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'iX4  ■' . 


McKEW  PARR  COLLECTION 


MAGELLAN 

and   the  AGE  of   DISCOVERY 


PRESENTED      TO 

BRANDEIS  UNIVERSITY  •  1961 


>^ 


HISTORY  OF  THE  GOLD  COAST 

AND  ASANTE, 

BASED  ON  TRADITIONS  AND  HISTORICAL  FACTS, 

COMPRISING  A  PERIOD  OF  MORE  THAN  THREE  CENTURIES 

FROM  ABOUT  1500  TO  1860. 

BY 

EEV.  CARL  CHRISTIAN  REINDORF, 

NATIVE  PASTOR  OF  THE  BASEL  MISSION,  CHRISTIANSLORG.  GOLD  COAST. 


BASEL   1895. 

Printed  for  the  Author, 

to  be  had  of 

the  Missiousbuchhaiidluiig  Basel,  Switzerland, 

Kegan  Paul,  Trench,  Triibner  &  Co.  London, 

the  Basel  Mission  Book  Depot  Christianshorg,  tr.  C, 

the  Gold  Coast  District  Book  Depot,  Cape  Coast,  W.  Africa. 


7  51) 


m 


Preface. 

To  the  Educated  Coinmiiiiity  in  the  Gold  Coast  Colony. 

Bear  Friends, — 

The  sole  object  of  this  publication  is,  to  call  the  attention  of  all  you 
my  friends  and  countiymen,  to  the  study  and  collection  of  our  history, 
and  to  create  a  basis  for  a  future  more  complete  history  of  the  Gold 
Coast. 

A  history  is  the  methodical  narration  of  events  in  the  order  in  which 
they  successively  occurred,  exhibiting-  the  origin  and  progress,  the  causes 
and  effects,  and  the  auxiliaries  and  tendencies  of  that  which  has  occurred 
in  connection  with  a  nation.  It  is,  as  it  were,  the  speculum  and  meas- 
ure-tape of  that  nation,  showing  its  true  shape  and  stature.  Hence  a 
nation  not  possessing  a  history  has  no  true  representation  of  all  the 
stages  of  its  development,  whether  it  is  in  a  state  of  progress  or  in  a 
state  of  retrogression.  In  the  place  of  a  written  history,  tradition,  which 
from  antiquity  was  a  natural  source  of  history,  was  kept  and  trans- 
mitted regularly  by  our  ancestors  to  their  children  in  their  days.  It 
was  not,  of  course,  in  uniform  theory,  but  existed  and  exercised  its  in- 
fluence in  the  physical  and  mental  powers  of  our  people.  This  impor- 
tant custom  of  a  nation  —  which  our  forefathers  felt  obliged  to  pre- 
serve and  transmit  from  one  generation  to  another,  so  as  to  enable  us 
to  compare  our  times  with  theirs  —  has,  since  the  dawn  of  education, 
been  gradually  neglected  and  forgotten.  Since  then  it  has  been  the 
good  fortune  of  the  Gold  Coast  to  possess  educated  men  of  powerful 
mind,  who  I  am  sure  were  well  qualified  to  collect  the  traditions  of 
their  forefathers  as  a  basis  for  a  future  history  of  the  Gold  Coast. 
But  unfortunately  such  collections  have  not  been  preserved  by  their  suc- 
cessors, but  have  been  left  to  the  memories  of  the  uneducated  commu- 
nity. Such  a  work  as  writing-  a  history  of  the  Gold  Coast  would  not 
have  been  difficult  for  such  of  our  brethren  as  the  late  lamented  Eev. 
William  Hansen,  and  Charles  Bannerman,  and  some  others  in  Fante; 
they  possessed  the  mental  powers  which  would  have  enabled  them  to 
do  it  successfully.  Unfortunately,  however,  these  lights  on  the  Gold 
Coast   were  carried   away  by  death   in  the   prime  of  life. 

A  history  of  the  Gold  Coast  written  by  a  foreigner  would  most  prob- 
ably   not   be    correct    in    its  statements,    he    not    having    the    means    of 

* 

1  M  771  ^ 


IV  Preface. 

acquiring  the  different  traditions  in  the  country  and  of  comparing  them 
with  those  which  he  may  have  gathered  from  a  single  individual.  Un- 
less a  foreigner  writes  what  he  witnesses  personally,  his  statements  will 
be  comparatively  worthless,  as  it  is  the  case  with  several  accounts  of  the 
Gold  Coast  already  published.  Hence  it  is  most  desirable  that  a  history 
of  the  Gold  Coast  and  its  people  should  be  written  by  one  who  has 
not  only  studied,  but  has  had  the  privilege  of  initiation  into  the  history 
of  its  former  inhabitants  and   writes  with  true  native  patriotism. 

It  is  no  egotism  when  I  say  1  have  had  the  privilege  of  being  ini- 
tiated into,  and  also  of  possessing  a  love  for,  the  history  of  my  country. 
My  ancestors  on  the  father's  and  mother's  side  belonged  to  the  families 
of  national  ofliciating  high  priests  in  Akra  and  Christiansborg.  And  I 
should  have  become  a  priest  either  of  Nai  at  Akra  or  Klote  at  Chris- 
tiansborg, if  I  had  not  been  born  a  mulatto  and  become  a  Christian. 
My  worthy  grandmother  Okakg  Asase,  as  in  duty  bound  to  lier  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren,  used  to  relate  the  traditions  of  the  country  to 
her  people  when  they  sat  around  her  in  the  evenings.  My  education 
and  calling  separated  me  from  home,  and  prevented  me  from  complet- 
ing the  series  of  these  lessons  in  native  tradition. 

However  in  1860  I  felt  a  craving  to  spend  some  days  with  her,  so 
as  to  complete  it;  but  she  died  whilst  I  was  absent  from  home  in  Krobo 
as  a  catechist.  Four  years  later  Rev.  Fr.  Aldinger  asked  me  to  collect 
traditions  for  him;  but  the  old  lady  was  dead,  and  the  old  people, 
though  possessing  a  vast  store  of  tradition,  refrained  from  imparting  it; 
so   I  obtained  very   little  for  him. 

This  treatment  of  the  then  old  people  stirred  up  a  greater  desire  in 
me  to  use  all  available  means  in  my  power  to  collect  traditions.  From 
more  than  two  hundred  persons  of  both  sexes  1  ol)tained  what  know- 
ledge of  the  subject  I  now  possess.  These  traditions  I  have  carefully 
compared  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  truth.  The  result  I  now  humbly 
present  to  the  public,  to  whom  I  have  to  suggest  a  few  remarks. 

If  a  nation's  history  is  the  nation's  speculum  and  measure-tape,  then 
it  brings  the  past  of  that  nation  to  its  own  view,  so  that  the  past  may 
be  compared  with  the  present  to  see  whether  progress  or  retrogression 
is  in  operation;  and  also  as  a  means  of  judging  our  nation  by  others, 
so  that  we  may  gather  instruction  for  our  future  guidance.  When  such 
is  not  the  case  with  a  nation,  no  hope  can  be  entertained  for  better 
prospects.  Keeping  this  in  mind,  we  shall  more  clearly  understand  the 
necessity  of  collecting  materials  for  a  complete  history  of  the  Gold  Coast 
from  evei-y  source  within  our  reach. 


Preface.  V 

The  title  chosen  for  this  publication,  "History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and 
Asante"  may  be  deemed  to  promise  more  than  I  was  actually  able  to 
give.  For,  from  want  of  reliable  information,  the  principal  and  impor- 
tant portion  of  the  Gold  Coast,  Fante,  the  land  of  history,  the  land  of 
poetry  and  enlightenment  and  semi-civilization,  could  not  be  treated 
fi-om  its  origin.  Still  I  venture  to  have  the  book  so  named  in  the  hope 
that  our  brethren  and  friends  on  the  Gold  Coast,  both  Native  and  Eu- 
ropean, may  possess  better  sources  of  information  for  a  history  of  the 
Gold  Coast,  and  may,  laying  aside  all  prejudice,  be  induced  to  unite 
to  bring  the  history  of  the  GJold  Coast  to  perfection.  I  deem  it  impossible 
for  one  man  unaided  to  carry  out  such  an  important  work  to  perfection. 

Having  described  the  principal  object  I  have  in  view  in  writing  this 
work  as  a  desire  to  produce  a  complete  history  of  the  Gold  Coast,  I 
trust,  my  friends  in  Fante,  or  elsewhere,  will  co-operate  with  me  in  re- 
vising, if  need  be,  what  I  have  written,  and  in  assisting  me  by  furnish- 
ing additional  information,  in  order  that  a  subsequent  edition  may  be 
more  complete. 

Another  important  snbject,  besides  that  of  Fante  etc.,  which  ought  to 
be  more  fully  investigated  before  the  work  would  be  complete,  is  the 
different  conditions  and  concerns  of  various  European  nations  on  the 
Gold  Coast  and  their  connections  with  the  people  there  since  their  es- 
tablishment in  this  country. 

I  may  also  state  briefly  my  object  in  connecting  the  history  of  Asante 
with  that  of  the  Gold  Coast.  There  must  be  a  starting-point  in  writing 
a  history  of  a  nation.  If  the  kingdom  of  Akra,  which  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  established  on  the  Gold  Coast,  could  have  continued 
and  absorbed  that  of  Fante,  or  been  absorbed  by  the  latter,  I  might 
have  easily  obtained  the  starting-point.  But  both  kingdoms  having 
failed  and  the  kingdom  of  Asante  having  become  the  leading  and  ruling 
power,  a  Gold  Coast  history  would  not  be  complete  without  the  history 
of  Asante,  as  the  histories  of  both  countries  are  so  interwoven.  Thus 
my  present  work  carries  us  from  the  origin  of  the  diflPerent  tribes  to 
the  year  1856  i.e.  the  rebuilding  of  the  town  of  Osu  or  Christiansborg, 
a  period  of  at  least  three  centuries. 

If,  in  conjunction  with  the  united  efforts  of  all  the  educated  commu- 
nity of  the  country  and  those  foreigners  who  take  a  special  interest  in 
us,  we  could  collect  materials  of  those  dark  days  to  complete  this  pio- 
neer work,  that  from  1857  up  to  the  present  time,  some  thirty  years 
only,  could  be  easily  obtained,  as  there  is  sufficient  matter  already  in 
store  for  us. 


VI  Preface. 

Regarding  dates  and  historical  facts,  I  have  made  references  to  such 
works  as  I  could  lay  hand  upon.  The  records  of  the  Colonial  (4overn- 
nient  would  have  furnished  nie  with  correct  dates  and  substantial  infor- 
mations, but  I  was  unable  to  obtain  access  to  them.  I  am,  however, 
highly  thankful  to  the  Rev.  P.  Steiner  for  the  translation  of  some  pages 
from  the  following  works  in  German,  viz.  W.  J.  Muller,  Danish  chap- 
lain in  Frederiksborg  (now  Fort  Victoria)  near  Cape  Coast  Castle  from 
1662—1670,  published  in  Hamburg  1673  and  in  Niirnberg  1675;  Fr. 
Romer,  a  Danish  merchant  in  Christiansborg  from  1735 — 43,  published 
at  Copenhagen  in  1769;  Dr.  P.  E.  Isert,  Copenhagen  1788;  H.  C.  Mon- 
rad,  a  Danish  Chaplain  in  Christiansborg  from  1805 — 9,  Weimar  1824; 
Dr.  0.  Dapper's  Africa.  The  short  history  of  the  Bremen  Mission  was 
kindly  given  me  by  the  Rev.  G.  Binetsch,  of  the  North  German  or 
Bremen  Mission  on  the  Slave  Coast. 

Besides  those,  I  have  got  the  follov/ing  works  in  English:  William 
Bosnian,  A  new  and  accurate  Description  of  the  Coast  of  Guinea,  de- 
vided  into  the  Gold,  the  Slave,  and  the  Ivory  Coasts,  1705;  Bowdich, 
Mission  to  Ashantee ;  Cruickshank,  Eighteen  Years  on  the  Gold  Coast; 
Sir  Dal.  Hay,  Ashanti  and  the  Gold  Coast;  The  British  Battles;  A  brief 
history  of  the  Wesleyan  Missions  on  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa  by 
William  Fox,  1851;  the  Report  of  the  Basel  Mission  for  1879,  or  a 
Retrospect  on  fifty  years  Mission  Work;  and  the  Gold  Coast  Almanack 
for  1842  and  1843,  with  some  few  manuscripts  of  the  late  Old  James 
Bannerman  and  Charles  Bannerman,  which  were  kindly  communicated 
to  me  by  Mr.  Edmund  Bannerman  and  from  which  I  obtained  some 
information  about  Sir  Charles  McCarthy's  war  with  Asante.  And  lastly, 
I  am  thankful  to  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Parker  and  the  Rev.  John  H.  Davies 
M.  A.,  the  Colonial  Chaplain,  for  their  informations. 

I  have,  at  the  same  time,  to  crave  indulgence  from  all  the  English 
readers  of  my  work  for  my  poor  English  and  for  using  Dr.  Lepsius' 
Standard  Alphabet  in  writing  the  African  names.  For  I  have  found 
out  that  the  English  Alphabet  could  never  fully  express  the  names, 
and  as  I  have  the  full  conviction  that  the  endeavours  of  the  Basel 
German  missionaries  to  cultivate  our  language  and  to  give  us  a  litera- 
ture of  our  own  have  been  successful,  and  this  work  is  intended  as  a 
contribution  towards  that,  ray  native  friends  will,  in  the  long  run,  find 
that  I  have  adopted  the  best  mode   in  doing  so. 

The  vowels  a,  e,  i,  o,  u,  [having  the  same  pronunciation  whether  they 
be  long  or  short]  are  as  in  English  far,  hest,  sit,  post,  full;  e  =  e  in 
English  there;  g  =  o  in   not,   nor;  a,  e,   e,   i,  o,  o,   u  are  nasals;   a,  e,  e, 


Preftice.  VII 

1,  g,  0,  11  ;ire  long;  h=ng-  as  in  sing;  s  =  sh ;  ts  =  tsh  in  chin;  ds  =  dsh, 
like  j  in  just.     For  the  Tshi  (Twi)   names  I  have  used  gy  instead  of  dsh- 

And  in  conclusion  I  must  beg  you,  my  native  friends,  not  to  despise 
this  work  coming  from  one  of  your  own  brethren,  but  let  it  rather  en- 
courage you  to  assist  me  by  your  kind  informations  and  co-operation, 
so  as  to  get  our  own  history  complete.  To  interest  you  chiefly  I  col- 
lected so  many  names  of  our  forefathers,  who  defended  our  country  from 
the  yoke  of  Asante,  trusting  that  every  one  of  you  will  be  pleased  to 
tiud  his  grandfather's  name  in  the   lists. 

May  our  dear  Lord  bless  this  poor  means  I  now  offer  to  the  public 
for  the  improvement  of  ourselves   as  well  as  our  country! 


I  am  yours  very  truly 

C.  C.  Reindorf. 

Christlansborg,  April  26f'>,  1889. 


Prefatory  Remarks 

of  the  author's  friend   who  carried  the  work  through  the  press. 

The  author  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  his  Avork  printed,  as  this 
could  not  be  done  on  the  Gold  Coast.  His  endeavours  to  have  it  printed 
in  England  failed,  and  after  some  correspondence  with  his  friends  in 
Basel,  a  German  printer  was  entrusted  with  it,  who  had  printed  numer- 
ous books  and  papers  in  the  Tshi  or  Asante  and  in  the  Ga  or  Akra 
languages  for  the  Basel  Mission  and  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety. The  undersigned,  being  a  fellow-labourer  in  the  Basel  Mission 
of  the  author  and  his  personal  friend,  having  also  been  the  chief  in- 
strument for  preparing  works  in  the  Tshi  language  and  carrying  them 
through  the  press,  as  well  as  the  publications  in  Ga  since  1869,  under- 
took to  render  similar  service  for  the  present  work.  Some  of  the  au- 
thor's friends,  taking  a  lively  interest  in  the  publication,  found  that  the 
English  manuscript  wanted  some  revision  before  it  went  to  the  press. 
The  delicate  task  would  have  been  to  difficult  for  the  undersigned,  be- 
ing himself  neither  born  nor  educated  among  English-speaking  peo- 
ple; but  he  had  the  good  luck  to  secure  the  services  of  a  gentleman, 
who  has  been  teaching  English  in  Basel  and  in  India  about  33  years 
and  possesses  the  advantage  of  speaking  that  language  as  his  mother- 
tongue.  Unibrtunately  the  duties  of  his  vocation  left  him  but  very  little 
time  for  this  work,  which  he  carried  on,  however,  with  great  self-de- 
votion and  managed  at  last  to  complete.  If  the  book  were  to  see  an- 
other edition  arranged  in  strict  chronological  order  and  with  additional 
to.uches  added  to  the  revision  of  the  style,  our  friend  will  not  object  to 
have  his  name  given  in  the  preface.  After  him  the  undersigned  finally 
prepared  the  manuscript  for  the  press,  ciomparing  it  at  the  same  time 
with  the  Ga  translation  of  the  first  half  of  the  work,  which  had  been 
communicated  to  him  by  the  author  in  order  to  be  printed  sxxccessively 
in  a  periodical  "  Christian  Reporter  for  the  Natives  of  the  Gold  Coast 
speaking  the  Ga  or  Akra  language."  By  this  comparison  the  true  sense 
of  the  English  as  well  as  the  Ga  version  was  mutually  elucidated  and 
confirmed.  Yet  even  after  or  partly  on  account  of  these  threefold  en- 
deavours to  do  justice  to  the  English  language,  a  genuine  English  reader 
may  still  find  slight  inaccuracies  or  inconsistencies  e.  g.  in  the  punctua- 
tion and  other  points  of  orthography,  in  which  even  books  of  English 
authors  do  not  always  agree,  so  that  e.  g.  the  name  M'Carthy  is  also  found 


Prefatory  Remarks.  IX 

written  McCarthy,  Macarthy,  MacOarthy.  The  number  of  capital 
letters  used  by  the  author  was  partly  reduced  by  the  revisors.  Titles 
before  English  names  are  treated  as  in  English,  not  so  before  African 
names,  e.  g.   Captain   Laing,   king  Taki. 

The  way  of  writing  the  native  names  in  English  books  has  hitherto 
been  very  fluctuating  and  unsatisfactory,  although  it  is  very  simple  and 
plain  in  the  vernaculars.  In  1877  a  circular  from  the  Secretary  of 
State  called  attention  to  the  correct  spelling  of  proper  names,  and  from 
the  Assistant  Colonial  Secretary's  Office  at  Lagos  a  book  was  given  out 
for  the  use  of  the  Courts,  prescribing  "the  correct  spelling"  of  about 
470  places  in  or  adjacent  to  the  Gold  Coast  Protectorate.  But  of  these 
names  (often  2  and  3  for  the  same  place,  e.  g.  Crackee  and  Karaki  = 
Krakye,  Quahoo  and  Okwoo  ^  Okwawu,  Shawi,  Sewhee,  or  Sefui  =  Sa- 
f\vi)  only  few  were  tolerably  correct,  some  scarcely  recognisable,  the 
spelling  was  arbitrary  and  capricious.  Certain  principles  were  laid 
down  in  1885,  when  a  "System  of  Orthography  for  native  names  of 
places''  to  be  used  in  official  publications  was  issued  from  the  Intelli- 
gence Branch,  according  to  which  vowels  are  pronounced  as  in  Italian, 
and  consonants  as  in  English,  the  letters  c,  q,  and  x  being  excluded. 
In  1887,  1888  and  1890  authorities  under  the  Governments  of  France, 
Germany  and  the  United  States  accepted  in  many  points  the  principles 
of  that  English  system  and  enlarged  it,  so  that  an  international  alpha- 
bet for  geographical  names  was  in  view,  but  a  tborough  union  has  not 
yet  taken  place.  The  first  rule  of  that  English  system  says :  "  No 
change  will  be  made  in  the  orthography  of  foreign  names  in  countries 
which  use  Roman  letters:  thus  Spanish,  Dutch  etc.,  names  will  be  spelt 
as  by  the  respective  nations."  Accordingly,  as  for  the  Tshi  and  Ga 
languages  Roman  letters  are  used  on  the  base  of  Prof.  Lepsius'  Stan- 
dard Alphabet  (London  1863),  Mr.  Reindorf  was  right  in  using  the  ver- 
nacular orthography,  although  with  some  adaptation  to  that  international 
alphabet  which  uses  sh  for  s  (in  Ga)  and  tsh  tor  ts  (Eng.  ch  in  church)'^ 
likewise  dsh  is  used  in  this  book  for  ds  [^^dzh,  Engl,  j',  international 
djj.  [For  ds  and  ts  in  Ga,  the  Tshi  has  gy  and  ky,  und  besides  d\v 
and  tw  [^  di/iv  ?ind  tsJnv),  also  fw,  and  w=ivy.]  The  simple  sound  of 
ng  (as  in  singer,  not  as  in  finger)  is  expressed  by  n  in  Ga  and  Tshi, 
but  in  this  book  either  ng  is  used  at  the  beginning  of  words  (in  Ga) 
and  sometimes  at  the  end,  or  n  before  k  and  at  the  end,  because  the 
final  h  in  Tshi,   especially  in  Fante,   often  interchanges   with   n. 

We  write  Asante,  and  not  "Ashanti"',  because  the  simple  sound  of 
English  sh  does  not  exist  in  the  language  and  no  true  Asante  or  Fante- 


X  Pi-ef;itory   Remarks. 

man  uses  it.  The  third  rule  of  the  above  mentioned  official  "System 
of  Orthography"  says,  "The  true  sound  of  the  word  as  locally  pro- 
nounced will  be  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  spelling."  The  wrong  spell- 
ing "Ashantee"  is  owing  to  Mr.  Bowdich  and  his  interpreter,  an  Akra- 
man  who  went  with  him  to  Kumase  in  1817,  The  Akras,  having  a 
predilection  for  "sh"  especially  before  "e  and  i",  pronounce  the  origi- 
nal form  "Asiante"  indeed  "Ashanti",  whereas  the  Asantes  themselves 
have  suppressed  the  short  "i"  but  retained  the  "s".  The  stress  is  laid 
on  the  middle  syllable,  although  it  has  the  low  tone;  the  final  short 
vowel  is  not  a  real  "i",  but  a  "narrow  e"  which  is  often  mistaken  for 
"i",  and  has  the  high  tone:  Asante.  The  four  last  letters  are  pro- 
nounced  as  in  the  Italian  name  "Dante". 

We  also  write  Akra  (as  many  English  writers  did  and  do),  and  not  Ac- 
cra, because  the  "c"  is  excluded  from  the  spelling  of  African  names, 
the  doubling  of  consonants  is  against  a  fundamental  law  of  most  Negro 
languages,  and  the  stress  lies  on  the  last  syllal)le.  The  name  "Akra" 
has  been  framed  by  Europeans  from  the  Tshi  name  "Nkrah";  the  na- 
tive name  is  "Ga".  Since  all  the  other  native  names  are  treated  uni- 
formly, it  would  be  awkward  to  retain  Ashantee,  ('oomassie,  Accra, 
Yariba  etc.  because  they  were  written  so  in  1817.  The  spelling  and 
explanation  of  African  names  and  other  words  are  the  very  weakest 
points  in  Bowdich's  excellent  book. 

As  to  the  merits  of  the  present  work,  it  will  speak  for  itself  to  any- 
one who  will  take  the  time  and  trouble  of  perusing  it,  overlooking  mi- 
nor defects  in  form  and  style.  A  few  remarks,  however,  may  be  al- 
lowed here. 

Whatever  imperfections  the  critical  eye  of  an  English  reader  may 
find  in  the  book  with  regard  to  outward  things  or  the  arrangement  of 
the  contents  or  the  author's  knowledge  and  opinion  concerning  the  re- 
mote antiquity  etc.,  —  the  publication  deserves  to  be  welcomed  1)y  the 
natives  of  the  Gold  Coast  to  whom  it  is  dedicated,  and  by  Englishmen 
and  other  Europeans  who  take  an  interest  in  Africa.  It  is  the  first 
comprehensive  history  of  an  important  part  of  Africa  written  by  a  na- 
tive and  from  the  standpoint  of  a  native.  For  the  author's  countrymen 
everything  in  the  l)Ook,  also  the  many  names,  will  be  of  some  value. 
But  for  Europeans  too,  especially  for  English  statesmen,  authorities  and 
officials  that  have  to  do  with  the  Gold  Coast,  also  for  missionaries,  his- 
torians, ethnologists,  psychologists,  philologists,  and  even  geographers 
(on  account  of  the  geographical  names)  it  will  afford  valuable  matter. 
Several  books  treating    of  the  Gold  Coast  have  been  written  by  Eu- 


Prefatory  Remarks.  XI 

ropeaiis,  among  them  one  or  two  under  the  title  "A  history  of  the  C4olcl 
Coast."  But  all  these  were  written  from  the  standpoint  of  a  European 
and  with  no,  or  only  a  very  scanty,  knowledge  of  the  native  languages, 
whereas  here  we  have  a  history  written  by  a  native  who  has  a  warm 
heart  for  his  country  and  people  and  is  at  home  in  their  language  and 
way  of  thinking,  whereby  he  could  attain  to  a  truer  aspect  of  things  and 
facts  than   a  European  who  has  to  gather  his  information  by  interpreters. 

Many  parts  of  the  book  will  excite  the  interest  and  sympathy  or  some- 
times antipathy  of  the  common  reader.  One  thing  among  others  is  re- 
markable: the  extent  to  which  an  illiterate  people  can  preserve  so  many 
facts  and  names  of  persons  of  its  past  history,  by  no  other  means  but 
the  retentive  memory  and  oral  tradition,  partly  supported  by  certain 
popular  songs  referring  to  the  facts.  This  feature  in  the  life  of  illit- 
erate people  may  also  contribute  to  remove  or  abate  the  doubts  concern- 
ing the  reliability  of  other  records  of  ancient  and  modern  nations  simi- 
larly circumstanced  as  the  African  peoples. 

But  the  superstitions,  cruelties,  horrors  and  atrocities  in  the  private 
and  public  life  ot  heathenish  nations  are  also  brought  to  view  in  too 
many  instances  of  this  History  of  the  Gold  Coast,  and  this  ought  to 
impress  natives  and  Europeans  with  thankfulness  for  the  changes  al- 
ready effected  and  with  the  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  continuing 
and  increasing  every  effort  to  bring  the  various  tribes  more  and  more 
under  the  influence  of  true  Christian  religion  and  civilization. 

The  history  of  the  Christian  Missions  on  the  Gold  Coast  in  chapter 
XIX  dwells  perhaps  too  much  on  the  beginnings  and  does  not  give  much 
on  the  progress  of  the  work,  but  mentions  some  of  their  results  and 
statistics  down  to  the  year  1893.  (In  1894  the  increase  of  church  mem- 
bers of  the  Basel  Mission  was  larger  than  ever  before,  nearly  one 
thousand.) 

The  author  certainly  deserves  warm  acknowledgment  for  all  his  pains- 
taking in  gathering  the  materials  for  his  book.  May  the  work  he  has 
accomplished  stir  up  many  dormant  faculties  in  his  African  countrymen, 
to  give  him  every  support  towards  the  continuation  of  his  historical  re- 
searches and  the  "completion"  of  the  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  so  much 
desired  by  him,  and  may  it  promote  the  mutual  understanding  of  Eu- 
ropeans and  Natives  especially  concerning  that  which  is  needful  for  the 
elevation  and  true  civilization  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Gold   Coast. 

J.  G.  Christaller. 
Schorndorf,  June  1895. 


Contents. 


Chapter  I. 

A  short  desci'iption  of  the  Gold  Coast.  —  The  kingdom  of  Gui- 
nea. —  Expeditions  sent  by  Pharaoh  Necho  and  the  Carthagin- 
ians. —  F.  Komer's  reference  to  the  kingdom  of  Benin.  —  Tradi- 
tional accounts  of  emigration  to  this  coast.  —  Different  tribes, 
supposed  to  have  been  the  aboriginal  races  on  the  coast,  and  their 
conquest.     13.  C.  600.  570.   A.  D.  1400—1700 1 

Chapter  II. 

Detinition  of  Gfi;  its  boundary;  the  first  powerful  kingdom  formed 
by  the  Akras  on  the  coast.  — ■  I'he  first  three  kings.  —  Akwamu, 
the  first  Tshi  refugee,   and  the  formation    of  his   state    and   power. 

—  The  Portuguese  and  other  Europeans  forming  settlemeirts  on  the 
Gold  Coast  for  the  purpose  of  slave-trade.  —  The  expedition  to 
Aharamata  by  king  Mankpong  Okai.  —  The  tyrannical  reigns  of 
queen  Dode  Akabi  and  her  son  Okai  Koi,  whose  reigns  caused 
the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Akra  by  the  Akwamus.  A.  C. 
1500—1660 11 

Chapter  III. 

King  Ashangnio's^  defence    of   the   country  against  the  Akwamus. 

—  His  being  repulsed  with  the  Akras  to  Little  Popo  and  Tetetutu 
and  his  wars  with  the  Dahomeans  and  Angulas.  —  New  settle- 
ments and  towns  formed  on  the  coast  by  the  Akras  and  immigrants 
from  Dankera,  Alata  and  Osudoku.  - —  War  between  Labade  and 
Ningowa,  and  dissension  among  the  Labades.  —  Settlers  from  Era 
(Anehg  or  Little  Popo).  —  Origin  of  the  Adangme  tribe.    1660 — 1680     24 

Chapter  IV. 

Emigration  and  settlements  of  the  1'shi  tribes  in  the  interior.  — 
Awirade  Basa  and  his  first  kingdom  in  Adanse.  —  Dankera,  the 
first  powerful  state  among  the  Tshi  tribes,  and  the  wars  of  Owusu 
Bore.  —  The  formation  of  the  kingdom  of  Amanse  known  as  the 
kingdom  of  Asante.  — •  Its  invasion  by  Ntim  Gyakari :  destruction 
of  the  kingdom  of  Dankera  by   Osei  Tutu.     About  1500—1700      .      43 


Contents.  XIII 

Chapter  V. 

Of  the  kingdoms  of  Akwamu  and  Akem.  —  The  flourishing- 
state  of  the  Akras  on  the  coast.  —  Oduro  Tibo's  war  with  Nyako 
Kwaku.  —  War  declared  by  Osei  Tutu  against  Akem,  and  his 
death.  —  Akguno's  invasion  of  Akra  and  the  neighbouring  tribes. 
About  1530—1730 58 

Chapter   VI. 

The  warlike  and  victorious  reign  of  Opoku  Ware.  —  His  wars 
against  Amo  Yaw  of  Takiman.  —  The  great  improvement  in  the 
Akra  kingdom  in  the  reign  of  king  Ayikuma  Tieko,  and  his  pre- 
paration against  Akwamu.  —  Firempong  declared  war  against 
Akwanno,  and  the  troubles  on  the  coast.  —  The  three  kings  of 
Akem  and  their  being  hired  by  the  Akras  to  fight  the  Akwamus. 
—  Their  expulsion  to  Krepe,  and  the  Akems'  supremacy  on  the 
coast.  —  The  battle  of  Benna,  and  the  invasion  of  Kumase  by 
Abirimoro.  —  Safvvi  and  Gyaman  ravaged.  —  Subjugation  of  Bu- 
roii  Kyemi)im  and  Ntamang.      1731 — 1749       .  .  .  .  .74 

Chapter  VII. 

Origin  of  the  inhabitants  of  Akuapem  and  its  formation  into  an 
independent  state  by  the  deputy  prince  Safori  of  Akem.  —  Of  the 
eight  successors  after  him  to  the  reign  of  Obuobi  Atiemo. —  The 
reign  of  Ni  Ayai,  known  as  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  (or  Momotshe)  and 
Okai  Dsha.  —  The  reformation  of  the  state  of  Akra  by  him;  ex- 
pedition to  Little  Popo,  and  his  death.  —  Chief  Okai  Dsha's 
civil  wars;  his  visit  to  the  camp  of  Dade  Adu,  and  his  death.  — 
Chief  Wetshe  Kodsho's  reign,  and  expedition  got  up  by  him  for 
tlie  purpose  of  establishing  peace  in  the  country.  —  The  reign  of 
Teko  Tshuru,  and  the  civil  war  commonly  called  Kotoku  and 
Twerebo-war.      1733—1777 90 

Appendix:  Tradition   about  chief  Okaidsha. 

Chapter  VIII.     , 

General  constitution  of  the  countries.  Tshi  form  and  Akra  fcnmi 
of  government.  —  Construction  and  worship  of  the  royal  stool.  — 
Law  about  succession;  collection  of  revenue.  — •  Organization  of 
their  armies.  Different  bands  and  their  symbolical  mottoes.  — 
Preparation  for  war.      Symbolical  means  of  communication      .  .111 

Chapter  IX. 

The  attack  by  the  English  man-of-war  on  the  fort  Creve-Coeur 
and  Dutch  Akra,  commonly  known  as  the  war  with  the  Man-of- 
war  (Manowota).  —  The  first  Danish  expedition  against  the  Ang- 
ulas.     1782—1784 128 


XIV  Contents. 

Cliapter  X. 

The  state  of  Asante  and  Akeiu  at  this  period.  —  The  battle  at 
Mpemehoasera,  dissensions  and  commotions  in  the  country.  —  The 
first  Asante  invasion  of  Fante,  known  as  Fantekaii.  —  The  inva- 
sion by  the  Obutus  and  Fantes  of  Akra  on  Saturday,  commonly 
called  Hota.     1749- -1809 137 

Chapter  XI. 

Evacuation  of  Dutch  Town's  people  to  Kaneshi,  or  the  efforts 
on  the  part  of  the  Danish  and  English  governments  on  the  Gold 
Coast  in  abolishing  the  Slave  Trade.      1807  —  1847  .  .  .    151 

Chapter  XII. 

The  first  Asante  revenge  on  the  enemies  of  Akra  by  General 
Opoku  Fredefrede.  —  The  second  invasion  by  the  Iriple  army  of 
Fante,  Akem  and  Akuapem  on  Thursday  (Sota).  —  Kwadsho  Ku- 
ma's  rebellion,  and  tlie  second  Asante  revenge  by  General  Aman- 
kwa  Abunyawa.     1811—1816 160 

Chapter  XIII. 

The  deplorable  state  of  the  country  in  consequence  of  the  inva- 
sion by  and  the  tyrannical  rule  of  the  Asantes.  —  The  deputation 
composed  of  Mr.  James,  Governor  of  Akra,  and  Messrs.  Bowdich, 
Hutchison,  and  Tedlie,  witb  a  present  to  the  king  of  Asante.  — 
The  king  of  Asante  commenced  war  with  Gyamaii.  — •  The  insult 
given  to  Asante  residents  in  Fante.  —  Mr.  Dupuis  appointed  as 
Consul  to  Asante.  —  The  former  friendship  which  existed  between 
the  Akras  and  Asantes,  and  the  flourishing  state  of  Akra  owing 
to  their  exemption  from  Asante  invasions.      1817^1823  .  •    171 

Chapter  XIV. 
Arrival  of,   and   preparations  made  by   Sir   Charles   McCarthy  for 
the    invasion    of    Asante.    —    Expeditions    to    Aburi    and    Asikuma. 
1822—1823 17  9 

Chapter  XV. 
Martial  law   proclaimed  by  the  British  Government.  —  Kwadsho 
Tibo's  flight   from    Kumase."  — •   Sir  Charles'   death.    —   Expedition 
to  the  Pra.      1824 187 

Chapter  XVI. 
The  causes  which  led  to  the  battle  of  Katamansu.  —  Defeat  of 
Osei  Yaw  at  Cape  Coast.  —  His  retreat,  and  disorder  among  his 
captains.  —  His  accession  to  the  stool  and  preparation  for  an  in- 
vasion to  reclaim  his  honour.  —  His  principal  captains.  March 
for  invasion  and  incidents  in   camp  on  the  coast.     1825 — -1826     .      196 


Contents.  XV 

Chapter  XVI I. 

The  old,  women  and  children  of  Akem  and  Akuapem  obtained 
ret'iifi'e  at  Akra.  —  Concentration  of  the  troops  at  Akra  —  The 
tirst  and  second  encampments  .......  205 

Chapter  XVIII. 

The  battle  and  victory.  — •  The  plundering-  of  tlie  camp.  —  The 
retreat  of  Osei  out  of  the  Protectorate.  —  The  triumpliant  return 
of  the  different  troops.  Enormous  wealth  poured  into  the  Protect- 
orate  by  the  victory.     August  7.      1826 210 

Chapter  .XIX. 

Establishment  of  schools  by  the  European  Governments  on  the 
Gold  Coast.  —  Count  Zinzendorf's  attention  drawn  towards  tlie 
propagation  of  the  Gospel  on  the  coast.  —  Arrival  of  the  Moravian 
missionaries  and  their  deaths.  —  Major  de  Richelieu's  negotiation 
with  the  Committee  of  the  Basel  Mission  on  the  propriety  of  be- 
ginning a  mission  work.  —  The  first  missionaries  and  the  diffi- 
culties accompanying  their  work.  — -  Excellent  plans  of  the  mis- 
sion and  its  progress.  —  Arrival  and  establishing  of  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Mission,  the  Xorth  German  Mission  and  the  Anglican 
Church  Mission.  —  Effects  of  these  missions  on  the  different  tribes 
on  the  Gold   Coast.     About   1720—1890 220 

Chapter  XX. 
The  expedition  under  chief  Ankra  to  Bame.    1829       .  .  .251 

Chapter  XXI. 

Peace  made  between  Asante  and  the  Protectorate,  April  27,  1831. 

—  The  prisoners  ransomed  back  to  Asante     .....   257 

Chapter  XXII. 

Agriculture  with  its  implements  in  Adam's  time.  —  Improvements 
in  it  by  the  ancients.  —  How  the  former  inhabitants  on  the  Gold 
Coast  acquired  implements,  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  —  Princi- 
pal plants  known  before  the  arrival  of  Europeans.  —  New  plants 
introduced  and  improvements  made  by  Europeans.  — •  Principal  oc- 
cupations of  the  inhabitants,  and  how  not  improved.  —  Different 
famines  known    in    the    country,   provision    and   labour    being  dear. 

—  Folly  of  the  educated  community  in  not  following  the  example 
of  the  civilized  nations.  —  What  the  government  should  do  to  get 

the  colony   prosperous       .........   263 

Chapter  XXIII. 

The  causes  that  led  to  the  first  civil-war  between  Kumase  and 
Dwaben.  —  Battle  and  retreat  of  Boaten  to  Akem.      1832      .  .   285 


XVI  Contents. 

Chapter  XXIV. 

Boaten's  residence  at  Akem.  —  His  being-  recalled  to  Asante.  — 
The  atrocious  request  of  having  his  cousins  and  some  captains  put 
to  death   before  he  consented  to  return    ......  292 

Chapter  XXV. 

His  march  back  to  Dwaben  and  death.  — ■  The  arrival  at  Kumase 
of  his  mother  Seewa  and  the  Dwabens.  —  The  rebuilding  of  Dwa- 
ben. —   Trade   with   Asante  revived  and  full  peace  restored.   1842.  301 

Chapter  XXVI. 

The  expedition  under  chief  Kwatei  Kodsho  to  Nyive.  —  The 
war  for  independence  of  the  Krepes  from  the  yoke  of  Akwamu. 
1831—1833 305 

Chapter  XXVII. 

The  causes  that  led  to  the  expedition  by  governor  Morck  against 
the  Krobos.  —  Ado  Dahkwa  throwing  off  his  allegiance  to  the 
Danish  government,  and  his  death.     1835 — 1838     ....   314 

Chapter  XXVIII. 

Return  of  Owusu  Akem  back  to  Akuapera.  —  Disturbances  there 
about  the  royal  stool.  —  Adum's  incarceration  and  appeal  for  re- 
dress on  the  coast.  —  Death  of  Owusu  Akem.  —  Disturbances  on 
the  coast  in  consequence  of  Owusu's  death.  —  King  Adum  and 
chief  SabcVs  deportation  to  Denmark.  —  Danish  possessions  on  the 
Gold  Coast  ceded  to  the  English  government.      1839 — 1850  .  .   321 

Chapter  XXIX. 

Administration  of  justice  according  to  English  Law.  —  Its  effect 
upon  the  people.  —  Imposition  of  a  poll-tax.  —  Mode  which  the 
Government  should  have  adopted  in  collecting  it.  —  Conspiracy 
among  the  people  to  refuse  paying  the  tax.  — -  Governor  Hill's 
p.itience  with  the  folly  of  the  people.  —  Bombardment  of  Chris- 
tiansborg,  Labade  and  Teshi  by  H.  M.  S.  Scourge,  Commodore 
John  Adams.  — •  Peace  made,  and  the  rebuilding  of  Christiausborg. 
1851—1856 .329 

Appendixes. 

A.  Lists  of  European  Governors  on  the  Gold  Coast    .  .  .   342 

B.  Kings  and  the  Royal  Family  of  Asante  ....   346 

C.  The  native  leaders  and  officers  engaged  in  the  battle  at  Dodowa  347 

Additions  and   Corrections    ...,.-..   355 


HISTORY  OF  THE  GOLD  COAST  m  ASACTE. 


CHAPTER  {. 

A  short  description  of  the  Gold  Coast. — The  kingdom  of  Guinea. — Expe- 
ditions sent  by  Pharaoh  Necho  and  the  Carthaginians. —  F.  Komer's  re- 
ference to  the  kingdom  of  P)enin. — Traditional  accounts  of  emigration 
to  this  coast. —  Different  tribes,  supposed  to  have  been  the  aboriginal 
races  on  the  coast,  and  their  conquest.     B.C.  600.  570.  A.D.  1400-1700 

Our  continent  obtained  its  name  "Africa"  from  the  ancients,  a 
name  derived,  according  to  Bochart,  from  a  Punic  word,  signifying 
''Ears  of  corn."'  It  was  represented  by  them  as  one  of  the  three  great 
continents  of  which  they  believed  at  that  time  the  world  to  consist. 

"It  is,"  to  quote  the  late  Rev.  J.  Zimmermann,  "the  cradle  of  the 
Hamitic  portion  of  mankind,  having  Egypt  with  the  adjacent  coun- 
tries and  deserts  as  her  head  and  prototype,  as  the  flood-gate  through 
which  the  Hamitic  branch  of  the  human  family  flowed  into  her 
southward  as  far  as  to  the  Niger  Delta.  Western  Africa  must 
have  been  peopled  by  the  rivulets  overflowing  from  the  main 
current  and  turning  westward,  pushing  each  other  forward  in  the 
different  directions  to  the  barrier  of  the  Atlantic.  Africa,  in  the  be- 
ginning second  only  to  Asia  in  the  development  of  early  civilization  — 
the  cradle  of  Israel,  the  people  of  God,  and  also  the  nursery  and 
place  of  refuge  of  our  Saviour  in  his,  and  of  Christianity  in  her  in- 
fancy —  must  begin  to  open  her  eyes  now  after  a  deathlike  sleep 
of  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  to  call  again  for  her  place  in 
the  history  of  the  world." 

Our  object  is  the  Gold  Coast,  situated  on  that  western  part  of 
this  great  continent,  which  is  called  Guinea,  divided  into  Upper  and 
Lower  Guinea.  The  Gold  Coast  (so  called  b}^  Europeans  from  the 
immense  quantity  of  gold  obtained  hence)  is  that  portion  of  Upper 
Guinea,  which  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  River  Volta.  The 
western  border  is  traced  from  a  point  20  miles  to  the  eastward  of  the 
mouth  of  the  River  Asini  on  a  meridian  of  W.  long.  S^  10'  (G.)  and 
farther  inland  2" 50',  or  in  the  Tanno  valley,  to  a  parallel  of  N.  lat. 
6^20'.   From  thence  the  line  of  demarcation  between  Asante  and  the 

Asante  1 


2  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Gold  Coast  Protectorate  bends  east  and  south-east  to  the  River  Ofe 
near  the  town  of  Terebuom,  follows  that  river  down  to  its  confluence 
with  the  Pra,  and  again  ascends  this  river  to  the  parallel  of  N.  lat. 
6*^  30',  from  whence  it  [formerly]  nearly  followed  that  parallel  to  the 
River  Volta.*)  The  boundary  on  the  south  is  the  sea  with  a  shore- 
line of  about  250  miles.  The  Protectorate  has  an  approximate  area 
of  20,000  sqr.  m.,  and  a  population  of  about  one  million. 

Several  authors  of  former  times  have  represented  Guinea  as  a 
mighty  kingdom,  whose  prince  had  subdned  numerous  countries  and 
united  the  whole  territory  into  one  powerful  kingdom,  called  Guinea. 
This  representation  has,  however,  been  refuted  by  several  otlier 
authors,  who  may  not  have  seen  any  vestige  of  that  mighty  king- 
dom. They  are  in  so  far  right,  as  that  mighty  kingdom  had  been 
split  into  several  independent  states  shortly  before  the  Portuguese 
formed  their  settlements  here.  But  we  on  our  part,  after  several 
researches,  incline  to  give  credence  to  the  accounts  given  by  the 
first  authors,  which  we  do  by  the  authority  of  the  accounts  and  tra- 
ditions to  be  mentioned  hereafter. 

The  Phoenicians  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  people  who 
visited  this  coast;  for  "Pharaoh  Necho,  one  of  the  kings  of  Egypt, 
after  having  taken  Sidon  and  subdued  Phoenicia  and  Palestine  (he 
must  therefore  have  possessed  considerable  maritime  power,  nor 
was  he  less  powerful  b}^  land,  II  Kings  23, 29),  employed  Phoenician 
mariners  to  circumnavigate  Africa,  an  undertaking  which  they 
accomplished  with  success."  This  was  done  about  the  year  600 
before  Christ. 

Thirty  or  forty  years  after  this,  the  Carthaginians,  who  were 
rivals  of  the  Egyptians  in  commerce,   must  undoubtedly  have  ex- 


*)  Couceruing  the  western  border  of  the  British  Protectox'ate  on  the 
Gold  Coast  cf.  Burton  and  Cameron,  to  the  Gold  Coast  for  Gold  II,  78. 
At  present  (1894)  the  Protectorate  includes  also  the  Safvvi  country  be- 
yond the  Tan  no  in  the  north-west.  The  northern  frontier  has  been  con- 
siderably extended  on  the  east  of  Asante,  including  now  Asante-Akem, 
Agogo,  Okwawu  and  Broh  (Brono),  in  fact  the  whole  corner  between 
Asante  proper  and  Nkoransa  on  the  west  and  the  River  Volta  on  the 
north  and  east. —  On  the  east  the  Protectorate  comprises  also  some  coun- 
tries east  of  the  lower  Volta  with  the  towns  of  Akwam,  Anum,  Peki,  and 
Keta  on  the  Slave  Coast.  The  number  of  inhabitants  of  the  Colony  and 
Protectorate,  excluding  Okwawu  and  its  above  named  neighbours,  has 
officially,  after  a  census  taken  in  1891,  been  computed  at  973,822,  that  of 
Okwawu  and  British  Krepe  has  been  estimated  at  about  500,000. —  Chr. 


Chapter  I.  3 

plored  a  great  part  of  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  they  may  even 
have  settled  there.  But  according  to  the  usual  caution  and  mono- 
[tolizing  spirit  of  commercial  states,  it  is  probable  that  they  con- 
cealed their  discoveries  from  other  nations.  Only  one  important 
document  seems  to  have  reached  our  times,  which  demonstrates 
the  enterprising  spirit  of  that  people.  It  is  an  apparently  abridged 
journal  of  a  voyage  to  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  undertaken 
by  Hanno  the  Carthaginian.  Hanno  is  said  to  have  sailed  according 
to  the  decree  of  his  people  with  60  ships  of  .50  oars  each  and  a 
body  of  men  and  women  to  the  number  of  30,000,  with  stores  and 
provisions.  Their  plan  was  to  colonize  or  establish  permanent 
garrisons  upon  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa.  Hanno  seems  to  have 
reached  the  Gold  Coast,  as  may  be  seen  from  his  own  account 
given  of  the  places  they  visited.  They  talked  of  having  caught 
two  women  covered  with  hair,  whose  skins  they  brought  to  Car- 
thage. These  must  have  been  some  species  of  monkeys  which 
abound  in  Africa.  At  one  place  during  the  night,  they  saw  a  lofty 
fire,  larger  than  the  rest,  which  seemed  to  touch  the  stars;  but  at 
day-break  they  discovered  this  elevated  fire  to  be  a  large  hill, 
which  they  called  "the  Chariot  of  the  Gods."  These  fires  undoubt- 
edly were  the  annual  burnings  of  the  dried  grasses  on  the  Coast 
during  the  Harmattan  season. 

(3f  much  later  times  there  is  an  account  of  Mr.  F.  Romer,  a 
Danish  resident  merchant  of  Christiansborg  during  the  middle  of 
the  last  century  (1735 — 43),  confirming  the  above  statements  about 
the  kingdom  of  Guinea.  He  says,  that  the  Gold  Coast  was  a  part 
of  the  western  division  of  the  great  empire  of  the  Emperor  of  Benin, 
which  extended  from  Benin  up  to  the  river  Gambia,  and  that  it  M-^as 
governed  by  kings  appointed  by  the  Emperor.  The  eastern  division 
of  his  empire  is  said  by  Romer  to  have  extended  twice  as  far  as 
that  of  the  western.  Such  an  extensive  and  large  empire  could  not 
be  established  but  by  a" powerful  king  like  the  Pharaohs.  In  those 
ancient  times  there  must  have  been  a  way  for  trade  between  Egypt 
and  this  coast.  The  mosaic  beads  known  as  aggry  beads  (Bosman 
calls  them — Conte  de  Terra),  found  chiefly  on  the  Gold  Coast  and 
Slave  Coast,  must  have  been  brought  hither  from  Egypt.  The  in- 
signia of  the  kings  of  Akra  were  as  those  in  use  in  Benin,  and 
most  of  their  religious  ceremonies,  e.g.  killing  the  sacrificial  animals 
with  sharp  stones  instead  of  knives,  in  order  to  avoid  the  animal 
being  defiled,  were  also  in  use  at  Akra. 

1* 


4  History  of  the   Gold  Coast  and  A  saute. 

We  now  come  to  the  traditional  accounts  of  the  natives  of  the  Gold 
Coast  which  seem  to  confirm  and  prove  Romer's  statement  concern- 
ing the  empire  of  Benin. 

The  first  instance  is,  that  the  kings  of  Lagos  were  formerly  ap- 
pointed from  Benin. 

The  second  instance  is  the  following  tradition  which  is  generally 
and  universally  believed  among  our  people. 

The  ancestors  of  the  tribes  of  Akra,  Late,  Obutu  and  Mowure  are 
said  to  have  immigrated  from  the  sea;  they  arrived  on  the  coast 
one  tribe  after  another. 

The  Akra  King  Ayi  Kushi  (perhaps  Ayi  the  CushiteV)  and  his 
son  Ayite  with  their  subjects,  the  tribe  ofTungmawe,  now  Abora, 
had  in  their  company  a  prince  with  a  few  body-guards,  who  had 
the  commission  to  rule  over  the  Tshis  in  the  interior.  The  two 
princes,  i.e.  the  Akra  and  Akem  sovereigns,  proposed  to  send  out 
one  man  each  to  spy  out  the  land.  They  had  to  run  a  race,  and 
he  who  first  discovered  land  should  claim  preeminence  for  his  sov- 
ereign. The  racers  started,  but  the  Akra,  perceiving  his  antagonist 
outstripping  him,  pretended  to  have  got  a  thorn  run  into  his  foot. 
He  thereupon  asked  the  Tshi  to  spare  him  a  knife  to  remove  the 
thorn;  but  he  replied,  "Where  came  a  thorn  on  this  rock?"  Upon 
stooping,  however,  to  get  him  the  knife,  the  other  forthwith  took 
hold  of  his  shoulders  and  jumped  over  him  with  these  words  "It 
is  I  who  first  saw  God!"  And  there  and  then  both  became  the 
twin  rocks  known  as  Akwete  and  Akuete  on  the  rock  Tumo  on 
the  beach  behind  the  Basel  Mission  Factory  at  Ussher  Town,  or 
Dutch  Akra. 

The  tribe  of  Gbese*)  arrived  first  with  two  powerful  priests,  Amugi 
and  Anyai.  These  with  their  people  took  possession  of  the  site  now 
occupied  by  the  Ussher  and  James  Towns'  people.  After  their  ar- 
rival King  Ayi  Kushi  and  his  own  tribe  of  Tungmawe  with  the 
Obutus  and  the  Ningowas  also  came  out.  Wyete,  the  king  of  Obutu, 
arrived,  although  late,  yet  very  grand,  having  plenty  of  gold  orna- 
ments on  his  person;  hence  it  was  proposed  by  the  Akras,  that  he 
should  be  the  king  of  all  the  immigrants.  Upon  refusal  to  accept 
that  offer,  the  Akras  took  hold  of  one  of  his  arms,  his  people  hold- 
ing  the  other  arm,  which  very  unfortunately  was  plucked  off;   he 


*)  Gbese  is  the  name  of  a  species  of  red  ants  which  live  on  fruit  trees 
and  attack  any  one  coming'  near. 


rh;ii)t(n-  I.  5 

therefore  retired  into  the  sea.  The  numerous  body  known  as  the 
Asere  tribe  thereupon  requested  to  have  the  ruling  power;  and  that 
so  offended  the  Icing  (Ayi  Kushi)  that  he  also  retired  into  the  sea, 
after  he  iiad  handed  his  sword  to  prince  Ajite,  who  at  his  father's 
request  marched  with  all  the  Akras,  Obutus,  and  the  Tshi  prince, 
to  Ayawaso,  and  there  established  his  capital  on  the  hill  known 
as  Okaikoi  or  Kplagon.  The  Aseres  settled  at  Amonmole,  the  Obu- 
tus  on  the  west  of  that  hill,  and  the  Akem  prince  went  to  the  in- 
terior to  assume  government  o;>^er  the  people  there. —  The  ancestors 
of  Mowure  also  are  said  to  have  come  out  of  the  sea  very  numer- 
ously, so  that  a  man  seeing  them  and  being  astonished  to  behold 
such  a  host  of  people  coming  out  of  the  sea,  gave  a  cry,  which 
deterred  the  rest  still  in  the  sea,  and  those  became  rocks. 

In  reference  to  the  above,  we  give  the  following  account  from 
the  "Western   Echo". 

"The  founder  of  Asabu,  it  is  traditionally  reported,  was  Amamli, 
a  giant,  who  with  his  sister,  accompanied  by  Kwagya,  another  giant, 
are  said  to  have  come  from  the  sea  with  a  great  number  of  follow- 
ers. On  their  way  from  the  sea,  which  took  them  five  days,  they 
were  observed  l)y  a  certain  huntsman,  who  on  seeing  such  a  large 
body  of  men,  is  said  to  have  clapped  his  hands  and  exclaimed, 
"how  numerous!"  At  this  the  line  of  people  emerging  from  the 
sea  was  suddenly  cut  off,  and  became  petrified  and  transformed 
into  several  shapes  and  postures,  which  till  now  may  be  seen  in 
clear  sea  extending  to  some  distance.  These  two  giants  with  their 
retinue  travelled  on  together  till  they  arrived  at  the  Iron  Hill  and 
descended  to  the  road  which  leads  to  the  base  of  a  hill  called  Abere- 
wanfo,  the  literal  signification  of  which  has  reference  to  the  diffi- 
culty of  the  ascent  for  old  women.  Here  they  parted,  and  Amamfi 
and  his  sister,  taking  the  road  that  leads  to  Akotekua,  made  for 
the  interior,  finally  making  their  abode  in  Astibu.  -  Kwagya  on  the 
other  hand  took  the  road  leading  to  the  beach  side,  until  he  arri- 
ved at  the  brow  of  the  promontory  now  known  as  Mowure,  and 
finding  the  place  to  be  well  situated  for  fishing,  he  and  his  men 
halted.  They  immediately  set  to  clearing  the  bush,  which  was 
completed  on  the  sixth  day  after  their  arrival,  probably  on  Monday." 

The  above  traditions  appear  to  be  mere  folklore,  yet  there  may 
be  some  truth  in  them.  In  the  first  instance,  our  people,  being- 
illiterate,  could  not  keep  the  accounts  of  their  emigration  in  writing. 
For  what  they  say  of  coming  from  the  sea  could  be  easily  explained 


6  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaiite. 

by  the  common  expression  daily  in  use  of  coopers,  carpenters,  &c., 
employed  to  the  Bights,  "Ete  iisoiV  =  he  is  gone  to  the  sea ;  ^'Edse 
iison''  =  he  comes  from  the  sea.  Hence  the  immigrants  may  have 
come  by  big  canoes  or  ships  to  this  coast. 

The  tradition  of  immigration  from  the  sea  is  also  among  the 
Tshis:  the  Adanses  and  the  Tafos  in  Akeni;  and  the  Asantes  saj 
to  this  very  day,  that  there  arc  certain  people  among  them  whose 
ancestors  came  from  the  sea. 

The  third  instance  to  prove  the  statements  of  Mr.  Romer  is  that 
of  a  prince  for  Akem  coming  from  the  sea  in  company  with  the 
Akras.  That  throws  a  great  light  on  Romer's  acconnt  of  kings  ap- 
pointed by  the  emperor  of  Benin  to  rule  his  subjects  on  this  part 
of  his  empire. 

The  last  instance  is  the  peculiar  dress  worn  by  the  chief  priest 
of  Akra.  A  close  inspection  of  the  priest  in  his  officiating  garb 
leads  to  the  conviction  that  his  worship  must  be  of  foreign  origin. 
As  there  is  no  African  nation  or  tribe  ever  known  to  have  so  ad- 
vanced in  their  religious  views  as  the  Akras,  one  is  inclined  to 
suppose  that  the  Jewish  system  of  worship  in  the  Old  Testament 
style  has  been  either  introduced  hy  or  imitated  from  the  peo])le 
who  came  out  first  to  this  coast.  If  that  be  not  the  case,  it  may 
be  found  probable  that  those  peculiarities  are  to  be  derived  from 
the  Portuguese  Catholics,  who  established  several  churches  on  the 
Coast,  and  whose  religion,  after  their  expulsion,  may  have  been 
mixed  up  with  fetishism. 

As  to  the  question  whether  the  Carthaginians  [or  other  people  that  came 
from  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa  round  the  Cape]  settled  on  the  (irold 
Coast,  and  what  became  of  them,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  descendants 
of  the  colonists,  being  lett  here  for  nearly  2000  years  before  the  Euro- 
peans came,  and  having  no  connnunication  with  the  parent  state  for  sucli 
a  length  of  time,  must  certainly  have  lost  their  nationality,  knowledge, 
civilization,  and  even  their  language,  and  have  been  assimilated,  in  every 
respect,  to  the  aborigines. 

Having  traced  this  so  far,  we  come  to  another  tradition,  which 
says  that  the  Akras  and  the  Adangmes  emigrated  together  from 
Tetetutu,  or,  as  some  say,  from  Same,  in  the  east,  between  two 
large  rivers.  After  crossing  the  Volta,  they  dispersed  over  the 
country ;  the  Krobos  stayed  on  the  Krobo  mountain,  the  Shais  on 
theirs,  and  so  forth;  but  the  Akras  reached  the  Coast  and  formed 
their  settlements.  The  Akras  and  Ningowas  were  marching  in  a 
body;   during   one  night  the  former  hastily   started   and  left  their 


Chapter  I.  7 

dough  behind  them,  hence  their  surname  ^'Mashi"  =  those  that  have 
left  their  dough.  The  Ningowas,  being  left  behind,  were  called  by 
the  former  ^'Wo"  i.e.  sleepers. 

The  aboriginal  race  all  along  the  sea-coast  and  inland,  at  some 
points  15,  20,  30  and  40  miles  northward,  were  nearly  all  of  the 
Guan,  Kyerepong,  Le  and  Ahanta  tribes,  speaking  different  dialects 
of  the  Ahanta,  Obutu,  Kyerepong,  Late  (Le)  and  Kpeshi  languages. — 
They  seem  to  have  extended  from  Asini  down  toTema;  thence  to 
the  Volta  were  the  districts  of  the  Lbs,  speaking  Adangme,  the 
mother  dialect  of  Ga.  In  the  interior  were  the  Tshi  or  Fante  tribes, 
who,  as  we  suppose,  when  the  Moslem  invasion  of  Western  Europe 
was  stemmed,  and  the  Christians  reasserted  their  superiority  in 
Spain,  were  driven  by  the  Moors  from  central  Africa  into  the  low 
lying  countries  between  the  Kong  (Kpong)  mountains  and  the  river 
Pra.  Hence  the  tradition  of  the  Fantes  about  their  emigration  to 
the  coast,  that  they  separated  from  the  other  emigrants  and  were 
called  Ofatewfo  i.e.  the  portion  that  has  separated  from  the  main 
body.  We  suppose  this  to  be  more  the  real  meaning  than  "Efan- 
tewfo"  pickers  of  "efaii"  i.e.  vegetable  or  pot-herb.  The  emigrants 
from  the  interior,  after  crossing  the  river  Pra,  travelled  along  it  to 
the  coast,  and  either  subduing  the  aborigines  or  driving  them  along 
the  coast,  they  settled  in  the  country  between  Sima  (Chama)  and 
Dwomma  (Gammah,  Mumfort)  along  the  sea-coast  as  well  as  in  the 
interior.  The  Dankeras  and  Tshuforos  crossed  the  Pra,  leaving  the 
Ahanta  and  Guan  aborigines  on  the  south  from  Sima  (Chama)  to 
Asini,  and  on  the  east  from  Dwomma  (Dshiienma,  Mumford,  Mont- 
fort)  to  Lany-ma  or  the  Cook's  loaf.*) 


*)  The  only  way,  we  suppose,  of  tiudiug  out  the  difterent  tribes  which 
compose  the  wliole  Gold  Coast  population,  is  by  knowing  those  people 
who  perform  the  following  different  customs  tor  their  marriageable  girls. 
In  the  wliole,  there  are  three  principal  tribes,  viz :  the  Guah-Broh  tribe, 
the  Ga- Adangme  tribe  and  the  Fante-Twi  tribe.  The  Customs  hitherto 
known  to  us  are  : 

1.  Tuh-yo  =  camwood-girl,  indicates  the  pure  Ga  tribe. 

2.  Ama-yo  =  pitch-girl,  the  mixed  Le-Ga  tribe  (the  aborigines). 

3.  Asim-yo  =  elephant's  tail  wearing^ girl,  the  mixed  Guah-Ga  tribe 
(Kpesi  and  Obutu). 

4.  Otufo-yo  =  priestly  hat  and  loin-cloth  wearing  girl,  the  Adangme 
tribe. 

5.  Nsowumg-yo  =  sea-washing  girl,  the  Fante  tribe. 

6.  Bradsu-yo  =  menses-washing  girl,  the  mixed  Guan-T\vi  tribe. 

7.  Ak6-y5  =  (red)  parrot-feathers  wearing  girl,  the  T\Vi  tribe. 


8  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

The  following  account  proves  it.  Amamfi,  Asabu,  and  Kwagya 
with  their  numerous  retinue  had  already  settled  in  the  country  and 
had  founded  several  towns,  such  as  Asabii,  the  capital,  Putubew, 
Amosima,  Abora,  Po-Ekrofo  (Boropo-Ekrofo,  which  signifies  sea- 
people,  that  is,  people  emerged  jfrom  the  sea),  Akumamba,  Mainsu, 
Berebu,  Mowure,  &c. 

"The  Fantes,  on  arriving  from  Takiman,  to  settle  among  the  for- 
mer inhabitants  of  the  land,  encountered  great  opposition  from 
Asabu.  It  is  reported  that  the  Asabus,  previous  to  the  settlement 
of  that  portion  of  Fante  called  Abora,  lived  where  the  latter  now 
dwell.  The  Asabus  looked  upon  them  as  intruders,  and  consequently 
did  all  they  could  to  make  their  stay  in  the  places  they  occupied 
as  far  from  peaceful  as  possible.  To  show  how  far  the  Asabus 
tyrannized  over  the  Aboras,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  it  was  not 
an  uncommon  thing  for  their  chief  Amamfi,  to  try  his  bill  hook  on 
any  one  of  them  he  came  across  after  he  had  sharpened  it.  But 
the  Aboras  soon  gave  evident  signs  of  their  unwillingness  to  en- 
dure such  insults.  A  number  of  battles  ensued,  in  which  the  Asa- 
bus, though  numerically  inferior,  were  invariably  the  victors  by 
reason  of  Amamfi's  extraordinary  strength.  The  Aboras  having  so 
often  failed  in  their  attempt  to  dispossess  the  Asabus,  and  the  latter 
having  continued  to  be  more  and  more  troublesome,  the  former 
combined  to  make  one  strenuous  effort  to  put  them  down.  They 
asked  their  highest  fetish  Nananom,  what  sacrifice  they  should  offer 
to  ensure  success,  and  by  his  advice  buried  a  certain  creeping  plant 
called  by  the  Akras  "akpatrokpo"  in  a  pot  near  the  enemy's  town. 
The  consequence  was,  that  all  the  warriors  of  Amamfi  and  Asabu, 
as  well  as  their  chiefs  themselves,  were  soon  laid  down  by  an  attack 
of  guinea-worm,  effected  b}^  the  influence  of  that  sacrifice.  Tlie 
Aboras  then  gave  battle  to  the  Asabus.  Ofisadu,  nephew  of  Asabu, 
and  captain  over  the  Asabus'  forces,  was  ordered  to  fall  in  to  meet 
the  enemy.  Amamfi  and  Asabu,  as  a  matter  of  course,  were  un- 
able to  join  their  people.  They  very  soon  discovered  the  great 
probability  of  the  Aboras  winning  the  day ;  finding  themselves  in 
great  peril,  they,  with  great. effort,  got  up  and  approached  the  scene 
of  action.  On  finding  that  the  people  were  no  longer  able  to  make 
a  stand  and  were  actually  retreating,  it  is  said,  they  retired  into 
the  sea.  Thus  the  Aboras  got  possession  of  the  country."  Such 
emigrations  back  into  the  sea  should  be  understood  as  rather  emi- 
grating somewhere  else. 


Chapter  I.  9 

As  ah-eady  remarked,  when  tlie  whole  Gold  (Joast  was  under  the 
emperor  of  Benin  and  governed  by  kings  appointed  by  him,  there 
was  peace  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  country.  But  after 
the  arrival  of  the  Portuguese  and  the  immigration  of  the  Tshi  tribes 
the  unity  was  dissolved;  hence  we  hear  toward  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century  of  eleven  powerful  states  or  kingdoms  on  the 
Coast,  besides  those  in  the  interior.  They  are,  according  to  Bosnian, 
Axim,  Ante  or  Ahanta,  Adom,  Gabi,  Kommani,  Afutu,  Sabu  (Asabu), 
Fante,  Akron  or  Gomoa,  Agona,  and  Akwamu.  The  kingdom  of 
Akra  had  already  been  destroyed  by  the  Akwamus,  hence  the 
eleven  states  mentioned;  else  they  would  be  twelve.  Those  immi- 
grants by  their  conquest  introduced  their  language  among  the  ab- 
original race,  hence  we  see  that  Tshi  is  spoken  in  all  the  kingdoms 
or  states  forming  the  Western  Province  of  the  colony,  although 
several  states  retain  their  mother  tongues  besides. 

We  also  enumerate  those  countries  on  the  Coast  as  well  as  Inland 
according-  to  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Christaller's  dictionary  of  the  Asante  and 
Fante  language  (1881).  The  south-western  group  of  states  and  districts 
of  the  Gold  Coast  are :  Amanahia,  from  the  lagoons  and  lower  courses , 
of  the  river  Tanno  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ankobra  river  (which  the  Por- 
tuguese called  "Serpentine"  on  account  of  its  intricate  windings),  Aiiwo- 
uwii  (Awowi)  north  of  Amanahia,  Safvvi,  Ahanta,  Wasa,  Twiforo  and 
Dankira.  The  Fante  group,  on  the  middle  part  of  the  Gold  Coast,  ex- 
tending from  80  to  100  miles  l)etween  the  rivers  Pra  and  Sakumo ; 
Komane  (Commenda)  with  Aguafo  and  Aberemu,  Odena  or  Elmina,  Afutu, 
Asabu,  Abora,  Fante  proper  (Onomabo  and  Fante  Asene,  Korentsel, 
Anyah  &c.),  Adwumako,  Akumfi,  Gomoa,  Agona,  Asikuma.  The  south- 
eastern Akau  group  :  A  sen  or  Asenefufu,  Akem  Abuakwa,  Akem  Kotoku, 
Akem  Dwaben,  Akuapem,  and  Akwam  with  Kamana.*) 

Although  we  have  stated  above  that  the  Guan  and  Ahanta  tribes 
extended  from  Asini  to  Tenia,  yet  according  to  the  political  division, 


*)  As  a  north-western  Akan  Group  he  mentions  inland  countries  which 
were  then  (1881)  outside  the  British  Protectorate  ;  but  Okwawu,  Asante- 
Akem  and  Agogo  have  since  been  received  into  it,  the  tribes  of  Adanse, 
Nkwauta,  Danyase  and  Kokofu  have  immigrated  into  the  British  Terri- 
tory, Dadease  is  disinclined  to  serve  Asante,  and  so  this  once  powerful 
kingdom  is  reduced  t9  Kumase,  Bekwae  in  the  S.W.,  Agona,  Mampoh, 
Kumawu,  Nsuta  and  Nkoransa  in  the  N.,  and  some  minor  dependencies. 
In  the  N.E.  the  Bron  tribes  placed  themselves  under  British  protection, 
and  Nkoransa  is  likely  to  follow.  The  south  eastern  corner  of  the  Gold 
Coast  contains  the  Akra  or  Ga  and  Adangme  country,  see  the  beginning 
of  Chapter  TI. 


10  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

the  Le  tribes^  among  whom  were  Kyerepongs,  Kpeshis  and  Adang- 
mes,  extended  from  Mount  Langma  to  the  Volta.  The  Akras  seem 
to  have  driven  some  of  those  tribes  to  the  Akuapem  mountains 
and  beyond  the  river  Volta.  What  thb  Lates  say  of  having  had  30 
towns,  and  the  Kyerepongs,  also  50  towns,  may  be  true  of  that  time. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  tribes  of  Late,  Anum,  Nkonya,  and  even 
the  Bowure  people  in  Krepe,  emigrated  from  this  coast  to  the  other 
side  of  the  Volta.*)  The  Bowures  are  reported  to  have  emigrated 
from  Mowure  in  Fante.  There  are,  however,  some  remnants  of  the 
aboriginal  race  of  the  Les,  Kpeshis  and  Obutus  mixed  up  with  the 
Akras.  —  To  prove  that  the  Kpeshis  may  have  occupied  the  land 
from  Tema  to  the  Volta,  we  give  the  following  reasons. 

All  the  lagoons  from  Laloi  near  Kpoh  (Poni)  on  the  east  to  the 
river  Sakumo  and  the  lagoon  Sakumo  in  Apa  (Apam)  on  the  west 
were  owned  by  the  Kpeshis  and  Obutus  or  Afutu-Berekus;  the  first 
lagoon  they  named  Sakumo  nukpa  (the  elder)  and  the  river  they 
called  Sakumo  fio  (the  younger).  The  lagoons  which  the  natives 
worship  as  their  fetishes  have  all  their  religious  songs  in  the  Obutu 
or  Kpeshi  dialect.  This  shows  that  the  Obutus  and  Kpeshis  were 
the  first  settlers  on  this  tract  of  land. 

There  is,  however,  a  tradition  which  says,  that  the  lagoon  Sakumo 
nukpa  (Tema  Sakumo)  was  the  property  of  the  Ningowas,  who  in 
their  wars  with  the  Labades  pawned  it  to  Adshete  Ashabara,  king 
of  Tema.  The  Ningowas  are  said  to  have  shared  the  tract  of  land 
between  the  river  Sakumo  and  Laloi  with  the  Akras;  the  boundary 
was  the  lagoon  Kolete  at  Christiansborg.  This  shows  that  they 
may  have  shared  the  land  between  themselves  after  the  conquest 
of  the  Kpeshis,  knowing,  according  to  tradition,  that  these  two  tribes, 
Akra  and  Ningowa,  emigrated  together  to  this  coast. 

The  other  settlers  were  the  Les,  as  we  find  mentioned  the  family 
of  Lakote  Aduawushi  =  Kote  of  Le,  who  is  known  to  have  been 
on  the  coast  with  his  people  before  the  Akras  removed  thither.  The 
brother  of  Lakote  with  the  name  Leteboi  was  acknowledged  by  tiie 
Dutch  Government,  by  an  instrument  drawn,  which  was  afterwards 
carved  on  the  silver-handed  cane  of  the  priest  of  Nai,  as  the  king 
of  Akra  in  1734.     Likewise  we  see  that  one  Tete  Kpeshi  was  the 


*)  Very  likely  these  tribes  were  driven  over  the  Volta  by  the  Ak- 
wamus,  when  that  tribe  subjugated  the  Kyerepongs  on  the  Akua- 
pem-hills.  P.  St. 


Chapter  II.  U 

chief  of  James  Town,  whose  brother  Kpakpo  Anege*)  was  acknow- 
ledged by  an  other  instrument  drawn  by  one  Mr.  J.  Hosey  Besouth, 
agent  of  the  Royal  African  Company  of  England,  as  tlie  chief  and 
successor  of  Tete  Kpeshi  on  tlie  16'^^  January  1737;  and  was  paid 
a  stipend  of  ^  4  per  month. 

The  coast  and  the  inland  of  the  Eastern  Province,  i.e.  from  Mount 
Cook's  Loaf  (Langma)  to  the  Volta,  hare  been  the  seats  of  power- 
ful kingdoms  and  states,  as  there  have  been  such  in  the  Western 
Province.  Tltey  were  the  kingdoms  of  Akra,  Obutu,  Le  or  Ningo 
or  Adangnie,  whose  king  had  the  title  Ladingcour  or  Liinimo  (see 
Bosnian  page  327),  of  ShCioyi  near  Sasabi,  and  several  other  states. 


CHAPTER  IL 


Definition  of  Ga ;  its  boundary ;  the  first  powerful  kingdom  formed  by 
the  Akras  on  the  Coast. ^  The  first  three  kings.  Akwarnu,  the  first 
Tshi  refugee,  and  the  foruiation  of  his  state  and  power. —  The  Portu- 
guese and  other  Europeans  forming  settlements  on  the  Gold  Coast  for 
the  purpose  of  slave-trade.  —  The  expedition  to  Aharamata  by  King 
Mankpong  Okai. — -The  tyrannical  reigns  of  Queen  Dode  Akabi  and  her 
son  Okai  Koi,  whose  reigns  caused  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of 
Akra  Ity  the  Akwanms.      1500—1660. 

'"Ga"  is  the  name  particularly  applied  to  the  people  and  country 
bounded  on  the  east  by  the  lagoon  Tshemu  near  Tenia,  west  by 
the  river  Sakumo  fio,  south  by  the  sea,  and  north  by  the  Akuapem 
mountains.  It  is,  however,  generally  applied  to  the  people  and  land 
from  the  Cook's  Loaf  or  Langma  to  the  Volta.  The  seven  towns 
forming  the  Akra  proper  are:  L  Ga,  English  or  James  Town  (Brit- 
ish Akra);  2.  Kinka  (Kanka)  or  Ussher  Town  (Dutch  Akra);  3.  Osu 
or  Christiansborg  (Danish  Akra);  4.  La  or  Labade;  5.  Teshi ;  6.  Ning- 
owa  or  Little  Ningo;  7.  Tema.  The  Ga-Adangme  coast  towns  are: 
Kpong  or  Poni;  Gbugbra  orPrampram;  Nungo  or  Ningo  and  Ada. 
The  inland  Adangme  towns  are:  Shai,  Krobo,  Osudoku  and  Asu- 
tshuare. 

The  reduplication  of  Ga  is  gaga,  which  is  a  kind  of  the  big  black 
ants  which  bite  severely  and  are  formidable  to  the  white  ants.    The 


*)  Onigi  is  an  Obutu  name  for  Guinea  fowl,  and  Kpakpo  being  very 
handsome  was  called  by  that  name. 


12  History  of  the  (lold   (.-cast  and  Asante. 

natives  designate  themselves  '^Loeiabii  (Loiabii)".  Loei  is  the  Ga 
name  for  another  species  of  the  black  ants,  which  wander  about 
in  great  swarms  and  thus  invade  houses,  killing  and  devouring 
every  living  thing  that  comes  in  their  way.  These  ants  are  called 
''nkran"  by  the  Tshis  and  Fantes.  The  Portuguese  coming  to  tliis 
part  of  the  coast  may  have' brought  down  Fante  servants,  who  must 
iiave  told  them,  the  place  is  Nkran.  As  foreigners,  thej'  could  not 
pronounce  it  so  properly,  but  called  it  "Akra"  (which  the  English 
spell  Accra).  As  their  name  designates,  they  must  have  been  a 
very  numerous  and  powerful  wandering  tribe  who  very  easily  sub- 
dued the  aborigines.  Fourteen  big  towns  are  said  to  have  existed 
inland  of  Ussher  Town,  one  as  large  as  our  present  James  Town 
and  Ussher  Town  ])ut  together  four  times,  of  at  least  40 — 50,000 
inhabitants.  It  is  said  that  all  the  inland  elevations  or  hills,  such 
as  Akpadegong,  Pletekwogong,  Muko,  Amonmole,  Fanofa,  Dokutsho, 
Kushibiete  (Legon)  &c.  had  big  towns  on  them  formerly.  James 
Town,  Christiansborg,  and  Teshi  were  then  not  founded.  The  tribe 
of  Ningowa  or  Wg  had  several  towns :  Wodoku,  Kpatshakole,  La- 
shibi,  Koko  nyaga,  Wokple,  Wodode,  Woshagba,  Wo-Akwamu,  Wg- 
bgbg  &c.,  vv^ith  Wodoku  as  the  capital.  The  Labades  were  then  on 
the  Aboasa  hill  and  near  the  river  Nsaki,  whilst  Ashijaote,  tiie 
jiriest  ofLakpa,  resided  on  the  Adshanggte  hill.  The  tribe  of  Tenia 
or  Kpeshi  likewise  had  several  tow^ns:  Tebiang  (Yege,  Kpla),  Podoku, 
Atshebidoku,  Alagba,  Lakanmabi,  Takinmabi*)  &c.  There  was  a 
large  town  with  several  other  towns  near  Sasabi  known  as  Shugyi. 
All  these  tribes  and  people,  as  well  as  the  Adangmes  and  Les  or 
Agotims  down  to  the  Volta,  the  Obutus,  Akwamus,  and  Akuapems 
were  tributary  states  to  the  king  of  Akra.  In  short,  the  whole 
extent  of  the  kingdom  is  said  to  have  reached  as  far  down  as  Aha- 
ramata,  north  of  Little  Popo  on  the  east,  and  to  Akan  near  Obutu 
on  the  west. 

We  have  obtained  only  a  few  names  of  the  first  kings  of  Akra 
with  a  few  scanty  notes  about  them.  The  first  king  was  Ayi  Kushi^ 
who  retired  into  the  sea.  The  next  was  Ayite,  who  established  his 
capital  at  Okaikoi  near  Ayawaso.  The  third  was  NT  Koi  Nalai  or 
Nlkoilai,  and  the  fourth  Mankpong  Okai,  surnamed  Owura  Mankpong; 
all  we  know  about  him  is,  that  he  used  to  ride  in  a  carriage,  which 


*)  Lakanmabi    is   now    called   Ashaman,    and  Takinmabi  =  Awuduui ; 
they  are  now  quarters  and  no  more  towns. 


Chapter  II.  13 

shows  that  in  his  days  the  Portuguese  had  settled  here,  perhaps 
about  1483,  because  the  Portui^uese  took  possession  of  Elmina  and 
built  the  Castle  St.  George  de  Ellmina  in  1481. 

During  his  reign  the  following  incident  may  have  occurred. 
Mr.  Romer  says:  "Two  princes  in  the  interior  fell  in  love  with  a 
noble  woman.  They  agreed  to  ask  her  to  make  choice  of  one  of 
them,  upon  which  one  was  chosen.  The  one  not  chosen  one  night 
called  upon  and  made  off  with  her.  By  travelling  six  weeks  they 
arrived  at  Okaikoi  and  took  refuge  with  the  king  of  Akra,  then 
at  Ayawaso.  The  name  of  that  prince  was  Akwamu,  which  after- 
wards became  the  name  of  that  tribe  and  kingdom.  He  staying 
with  the  king  as  a  servant,  got  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter, 
with  his  wife,  and  in  the  course  of  time  he  obtained  a  piece  of  land 
as  a  grant  from  the  king,  and  built  his  own  village  4  miles  off. 
When  he  was  removing  to  his  new  place,  he  left  his  son  at  the 
king's  court  to  be  educated.  Akwamu,  being  a  Tshi  prince  with 
their  known  inherent  wits  for  ruling,  easily  managed  to  collect  a 
good  number  of  other  fugitives  about  him,  so  that,  after  the  lapse 
of  50  years,  he  could  form  a  small  state  at  the  foot  of  Akem  Peak 
(^Nyanawase),  yet  was  under  the  king." 

King  Mahkpong  Okal  appears  to  have  married  the  Obutu  princess 
Dode  Akabi  (Akai\  who  seems  to  have  been  a  grand-daughter  of 
king  Wyete.  She  was  the  mother  of  Okaikoi,  who  was  named  after 
her  royal  family's  name — Koi,  but  being  the  son  of  king  Okai,  he 
got  the  full  name  Okai  Koi,  as  the  ancient  Akras  used  to  name 
their  children  —  the  father's  name  preceding  the  son's  name,  similar 
to  the  Jewish  fashion  in  naming  their  children. 

Our  connection  with  Europe  seems  to  have  commenced  a  little 
earlier,  prior  to  the  reign  of  King  Okai.  After  the  lapse  of  exactly 
2000  years  from  the  supposed  Carthaginian  settlement  on  the  Western 
Coast  of  Afrika,  no  nation  explored  the  Coast ;  though  some  French 
authors  have  tried  to  prove  that  a  French  company  of  Dieppe 
and  Rouen  built  the  first  fort  in  1383,  which  afterwards  was  rebuilt 
and  got  the  name  St.  George  della  Mina  by  the  Portuguese  in  1481. 
We  leave  that  dispute  to  the  two  nations  and  proceed  on  the  gen- 
erally accepted  supposition  that  the  Portuguese  were  the  first  nation 
on  the  Coast. 

Prince  Henry  of  Portugal,  the  navigator,  was  the  first  to  direct 
attention  to  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  and  it  was  explored  as  far 
as  Sierra  Leone,  under  his  auspices.    He  always  urged  his  naviga- 


14  History  of  the  CtoIcI  Coast  and  Asante. 

tors  to  bring  home  some  of  the  natives,  that  he  might  have  them 
baptized,  educated,  and  sent  back,  so  that  the  Portuguese  might 
afterwards  be  able  to  open  a  commerce  with  them  in  their  own 
country.  Gonzales  Baldeza  in  1442,  returning  after  a  voyage  of  two 
years,  brought  10  slaves  and  some  gold-dust.  Prince  Henry  pre- 
sented the  Negroes  to  the  Pope  Martin  V.,  who  thereupon  conferred 
upon  Portugal  the  right  of  possession  and  sovereignty  over  all  the 
countries  that  might  be  discovered  between  Cape  Bojador  (S.  of  the 
Canary  Islands)  and  the  East  Indies.  But  at  Prince  Henry's  death 
in  1463  discovery  had  not  yet  advanced  beyond  Sierra  Leone. 

King  John  II.  of  Portugal,  in  1481,  despatched  Don  Diego  d'Asam- 
buja,  with  a  force  of  700  men,  to  the  Gold  Coast.  He  landed  at 
Elmina  and  built  the  Castle  of  St.  George,  in  spite  of  the  opposition 
from  Karamansa,  the  native  king  of  Fetu  (Afutu),  then  the  power- 
ful state  in  Fante.  (Karamansa  may  be  Okoromansa,  a  name  often 
joined  to  the  name  Amoa,  or  Okara  Mansa.)  The  discovery  of 
America  by  Columbus,  and  the  commencement  of  the  West  African 
slave-trade  attracted  other  nations  to  visit  Guinea. 

After  the  Portuguese,  the  Dutch  followed.  The}^  built  Fort  Nassau 
at  Mowure  and  settled  in  other  places,  as  will  be  shown  hereafter. 
The  English  so  long  ago  as  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  had  proposed 
to  establish  themselves  in  these  regions,  but  were  restrained  by  fear 
of  infringing  the  rights  of  Portugal  under  the  Pope's  grant.  In  the 
latter  part  of  Edward  the  Fourth's  reign,  private  English  adventurers 
traded  to  the  Coast,  and  the  first  commercial  voyage  from  England 
to  Guinea  was  performed  in  1536.  But  the  Government's  support 
extended  by  Portugal,  and  then  b^^  Holland,  to  their  subjects,  placed 
the  English  adventurers  at  great  disadvantage.  James  I.  extended 
some  support  to  these  traders,  and  a  Fort  was  established  at  Koro- 
mante  (Cormantine)  in  the  year  1624. 

Cape  Coast  Castle  (the  Castle  at  Cabo  Corso)  was  built  in  the 
year  1652  by  the  Swedes.  The  foundation  was  laid  by  its  comman- 
dant Isaac  Miville,  a  Swiss  from  Basel.  The  first  name  of  the  Castle 
was  "Carolus-burg"  (Charles'fort).  In  1658  it  was  taken  by  the 
enterprising  Heinrich  Karloff,  a  native  of  Sweden,  then  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Danish  Company,  and  thus  it  fell  into  the  hands  of 
the  Danes. 

The  Danes  built  the  forts  Fredericksborg  near  Cape  Coast  and 
Christiansborg  near  Osu  in  1659,  as  well  as  those  at  Anamabo  and 
Takorari.    In  the  same  year  the  Danish  African  Company  obtained 


Chapter  II.  15 

the  privilege  of  trading  on  the  West  Coast  from  king  Frederick  III. 
of  Denmark  and  Norway.  But  unfortunately  Immanuel  Schmid,  the 
succesor  of  Karloff,  surrendered  the  Castle  of  Cabo  Corso  and  those 
in  Anamabo  and  Osu  to  the  Dutch  in  1659.  After  this  the  natives 
of  Fetu  (Afutu)  besieged  Cape  Coast  Castle  and  took  it  in  1660; 
but  the  Swedes  retook  it  from  their  hands  and  kept  it  from  that 
year  to  1663,  when  the  Fetus  retook  it  from  the  Swedes  by  surprise 
and  treachery.  Now  the  English,  Danes,  and  Dutch  respectively 
endeavoured  to  get  possession  of  it  by  negociation,  but  all  failed. 
On  the  second  of  May  1663,  however,  the  Fetus  voluntarily  surren- 
dered it  to  the  Dutch.  It  had  not  been  one  year  in  their  possession, 
when  it  was  attacked  by  Admiral  Sir  Robert  Holmes  by  land  and  by 
sea  and  captured  on  the  third  of  May  1664.  (The  author  of  the  "Brit- 
ish Battles"  places  the  event  in  the  year  1661.)  The  English  have 
ever  since  kept  possession  of  Cape  Coast  Castle,  though  the  illustrious 
Dutch  Admiral  De  Ruyter  tried  with  thirteen  men-of-war  to  capture 
it  in  1665. 

In  1685  the  Danes  sold  to  the  English  Fort  Fredericksborg,  named 
by  them  Fort  Royal,  but  now  Fort  Victoria. 

.James  Fort  at  Akra  was  built  by  the  English  in  1662,  in  which 
year  a  chartered  company  was  formed,  ''the  Company  of  Royal  Ad- 
venturers of  England  trading  to  Africa".  In  1672  "the  Royal  African 
Company  of  England"  succeeded  them,  and  in  1752  "the  African 
Company  of  Merchants"  took  their  place. 

Not  only  Portugal,  Holland,  and  England  formed  companies  for 
the  purpose  of  trading  to  tbe  Gold  Coast,  but  also  Denmark,  Bran- 
denburg, Sweden,  France,  with  the  sole  object  of  obtaining  from 
our  kings  and  chiefs  the  superfluous  population  or  their  captives  in 
war  as  slaves  for  the  cultivation  of  the  American  plantations.  From 
Apollonia  down  to  Keta  (Quittah)  we  find  about  35  Forts  built  by 
them,  most  of  which  are  now  in  ruins.  For  the  interest  of  our 
young  readers  we  give  the  names  of  these  forts,  beginning  from 
the  east: 

Quittah  (Keta)  Fort  Prindsensteen  1784  Danish 

Addah  (Ada)  »     Kongensteen  1784       y> 

Ningo  (Nuno)  »     Fredensborg        1735-41        » 

Prampram  (Gbugbra)      »     Vernon  English 

Teshi  »     Augustenborg  Danish 

Osu  »     Christiansborg  1659        » 

Dutcli  Akra  (Kinka)         »     Crevecoeur  Dutch 


16 


History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 


English  Akra,  or  James 

Town  (Ga,  Erilesi)    Fort  James 
Seniah  (Sanya) 
Winnebah  (Simpa) 
Apam  (Apa) 
Gamma  (Dwomma) 
Tantvim  (Tuam) 
Cormantine  | 

(Koromante)  I 

Anamabo  (Onomabo) 
Moree  (Mowure) 


1662  English 
Bereku  Dutch 

Winnebah  1694  English 

Lijdzaamheid(Patieiice)  1697  Dutch 


Cape  Coast  (Ogua) 


Mumfort 

Tantamquerry 

Cormantine 

Amsterdam 

Anamabo 

Nassau 

Carolusburg 

Cabo  Corso 

Cape  Coast  Castle 

FrederiksT^org 


English 
)) 
1624        )> 
1665  Dutch 
1753  English 

Dutch 
1652  Swedish 
1658-63  Danish  &  Dutch 
1664  English 
1659  Danish 


Elmina  (Odena) 

» 
Commenda  (Komane) 
»  (Akatakyi) 

Chama  (Sima) 


Royal,  now  Victoria  1685  English 

William  » 

Macarthy  » 

oi. /-.  jjT^i    •     rl481  Portuguese 

St.Georged'ElminaJ  .^^_  ^,       , 
^  \Wo(  Dutch 

St.  Jago  (Koenraadsbiirg)  )^ 

Vredenburg  '     1688       » 

Commenda  1681  English 

St.  Sebastian  (Portg.)  Dutch 


Secondi  (Sakunne) 

)) 

Orange 

1680      » 

))              » 

)) 

Secondee 

1685  English 

Tacorady  (Takorade) 

» 

Witsen 

Dutch 

Bootry  (Butiri) 

» 

Bate  ns  teen 

» 

Dixcove  (Mfuma) 

)) 

Dixcove 

1691  English 

Akoda  (Akwida) 
Takrama 

» 
» 

Dorothea 
Takrama 

. 

1682  Brandenburg 
1725  Dutch 

Montfort  (Manforo) 

» 

Friedrichsb 

urg 

Axim(Asem,Sem-brofo) 

)) 

St.  Antonio 

(Portj 

?•) 

» 

Apollonia  (Benyin) 

)) 

Apollonia 

English. 

These  torts  were  not  only  built  for  defence  against  hostile  in- 
digenous tribes,  but  also  against  European  neighbours  and  powers. 
In  1637  the  Dutch  took  the  famous  Castle  of  St.  George  d'El- 
mina  from  the  Portuguese;  they  planted  their  cannons  on  the  hill 
on  which  St.  Jago  was  afterwards  built,  and  obliged  the  Castle  to 
surrender.    The  Portuguese  were  finally  expelled  by  the  Dutch  from 


Chapter  II.  17 

the  Gold  Coast  in  1642.  Bosman  says:  "The  Portuguese  served  for 
setting  dogs  to  spring  the  game  which  as  soon  as  they  had  done 
was  seized  by  others." 

The  Portuguese  being  thus  expelled,  the  Dutch,  English,  and  Danes 
became  possessors  of  their  forts  or  built  new  ones.  The  Dutch  had 
16,  the  English  14,  and  the  Danes  5.  But  the  Danes  ceded  their 
possessions  to  the  English  in  1850,  and  the  Dutch  in  1868  and  1872, 
so  that  now,  over  the  whole  coast-line  of  250  miles,  the  Union-Jack 
alone  waves  supremely. 

Rule,  supremely  rule,  Britannia,  rule. 
Thy  acquired  colony  on  the  Gold  Coast! 
Protected  from  the  Tyrant  and  the  Slaver 
By  blood  of  thy  noble  sons  shed  on  fields, 
Besides  thousands  and  thousands  of  pounds ! 
Destined  by  Heaven  to  have  the  rule, 
Godly,  justly,  fatherly  therefore  rule !  — 

The  old  kingdom  of  Akra,  as  already  remarked,  extended  on  the 
Coast  to  Aharamata,  north  of  Little  Popo.  The  chiefs  there,  being 
tributary  subjects  to  King  Mankpong  Okai,  sent  him  regular  annual 
tributes  and  presents.  They  often  asked  the  Akras  to  defend  them 
against  their  enemies;  hence  in  after  times,  when  the  power  of 
Akra  was  broken,  the  Akras  also  sought  an  asylum  there.  Being 
their  allies,  the  Akras  traded  with  them  by  bartering  European 
goods  from  the  Portuguese  for  ivory,  aggry-beads,  blue-beads  &c. 

The  king  sent  his  people  with  large  amounts  of  goods,  and  other 
traders,  under  one  Lamte,  had  to  go  with  the  kings  people.  While 
they  were  trading  there,  a  war  broke  out  between  the  allies  and 
some  tribes  whose  king  was  so  cruel  as  to  kill  people.  The  Akra 
traders  joined  in  war  against  that  king,  but  he  was  too  strong  for 
them;  so  messengers  were  sent  with  the  traders  to  report  it  to  the 
king.  A  large  army  was  ordered  to  march  against  the  enemy  of 
the  allies,  in  which  Labades,  who  were  then  not  yet  separated,  had 
to  join.  For  the  safety  of  the  fetish  Lakpa  it  was  arranged  to  har- 
bour it  in  a  dense  forest,  now  known  as  Lakpako,  which  afterwards 
became  the  site  of  the  town  Teshi. —  The  army  suffered  great  hard- 
ship at  Aharamata  from  want  of  provision,  bad  ways  &c.,  and  had 
to  subsist  solely  on  palmkernels  and  the  clay  of  the  white-ant- 
hillocks.  Consequently  a  good  number  of  the  warriors  died.  That 
wicked  and  cruel  king  was,  however,  captured,  brought  to  Akra, 
and  beheaded.  The  aged  chief  of  Labade  died  on  their  return  home  ; 
hence   the  second   chief,  whose  successors  afterwards  separated  to 

2 


18  History  of  the   Gold   Coast  and  Asaiite 

Teshi,  instructed  the  votaries  of  Lakpa  in  the  ceremonies  connect- 
ed with  its  worship. 

After  the  death  of  King  Okai,  Dode  Akabi  (Akai),  an  intelligent 
and  masculine  woman  and  Princess  of  Obutu,  having  obtained  pos- 
session of  the  kings  property,  usurped  the  government,  knowing 
that  after  her  death  the  young  Prince  Okai  Koi  might  aspire  to 
the  throne.  Dode  Akrd,  whether  to  avenge  the  ill-treatment  given 
to  her  ancestor  Wyete,  or  whether  it  was  her  nature,  ruled  both 
the  Obutus  and  Akras  with  a  rod  of  iron.  It  was  she  who  invent- 
ed the  Akra  face-cut-marks,  although  some  are  of  opinion  that  the 
first  Akra  emigrants  had  those  marks  in  their  faces.  She  also 
forbid  men  the  use  of  the  abusive  expression  "bulu"  or  brute  to  a 
wife,  upon  pain  of  death.  Her  injunctions  were  very  foolisli  and 
cruel,  such  as  to  catch  a  lion  or  tiger  alive  for  her!  In  the  execu- 
tion of  such  ordres  many  a  life  was  lost.  Before  giving  the  order 
to  build  her  palace,  not  thatching  it  with  grass,  but  with  clay,  she 
is  said  to  have  commanded  all  the  young  men  in  her  dominion  to 
do  away  with  all  the  old  and  elderly  men.  The  young  folks  com- 
plied with  that  wicked  injunction  ;  but  one  family  alone  harboured 
their  father  instead  of  killing  him.  When  she  was  hardly  pressing 
the  people  to  build  the  palace  and  to  use  swish-strings  in  thatching 
it,  they  were  at  a  loss  how  to  manage  it.  The  old  man  harboured 
advised  his  sons  to  demand  a  sample  of  the  old  swish  twine  with 
which  the  palace  of  her  predecessors  was  thatched,  so  as  to  imitate 
it.  This  being  asked,  she  perceived  at  once  that  one  of  the  elders 
must  be  alive,  and  forthwith  ordered  the  people  to  tell  her  the  truth. 
Which  being  told,  the  old  man  was  ordered  to  be  fetched,  who  had 
such  a  demonstration  with  her,  that  she  gave  up  at  once  that  idea 
of  roofing  a  grass  house  without  the  natural  materials.  This  was 
the  origin  of  constituting  seven  elders  as  counsellors  to  advise  kings 
and  chiefs  in  every  town. 

Her  death  is  said  to  have  been  brought  about  by  an  order  to  sink 
a  well  in  the  hill  known  as  Akabikeiike,  now  corrupted,  Akaeke 
(Akabi's  hill).  The  people,  having  no  proper  instruments,  were  com- 
pelled to  sink  a  well  some  hundred  feet  deep!  Their  rigid  task- 
masters were  hard  upon  them,  as  the  Egyptians  on  the  Israelites. 
At  last  the  poor,  oppressed  and  aftlicted  people  conspired  against 
the  life  of  the  Q,ueen.  To  carry  out  that  design,  it  was  announced 
that  water  was  being  discovered,  but  there  was  a  man  found  in 
the  bottom  of  the  well,  who  forbade  their  digging  any  farther.  Upon 


Oliaptf^r  IT.  19 

which  the  wicked  Queen  with  her  numerous  women  retinue  repaired 
to  the  spot,  arrogantly  demanding,  who  the  man  was  that  forbade 
the  digging?  "He  is  in  the  bottom  of  the  well  below"  was  the 
reply.  In  a  passion,  she  ordered  herself  to  be  lowered  down  to  see 
the  man  who  durst  oppose  her  injunction.  She  was  accordingly 
lowered  down,  when  the  people  exclaimed,  "This  is  your  abode!" 
In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  a  multitude  of  stones  and  sticks  were 
thrown  into  the  well  to  fill  it  up.  All  the  workmen  engaged  at 
the  well,  as  well  as  those  in  town,  carried  stones  and  threw  them 
in.  Those  coming  late  had  to  throw  their  stones  in  heaps  all  around, 
which  are  seen  to  this  day.  Thus  ended  the  wicked  and  cruel 
reign  of  Dode  Akabi,  which  is  still  remembered  by  two  proverbs : 
"Blemakpa  no  atsaa"  =  Twine  is  twisted  according  to  the  sample 
of  the  ancient;  "Ke  oyi  tamoo  Tete  yi  le,  otoo  T§te  sama"  =  Never 
cut  your  hair  like  that  of  Tete,  when  your  head  has  not  the  same 
shape  as  his,—  referring  to  the  Queen,  who  was  not  of  the  royal 
blood  of  Akra  and  should  not  liave  assumed  the  supreme  power.  The 
mode  employed  to  kill  her  has  been  since  connected  with  religious 
ceremonies :  —  whenever  an  epidemic,  war,  death  or  any  other  mis- 
fortune is  impending,  a  small  hole  is  dug  in  the  ground,  into  which  a 
cat  or  any  other  cruel  beast  is  placed.  The  parties  on  whose  behalf  the 
sacrifice  is  made,  have  to  pick  up  three  small  stones  each,  wheeling 
simultaneously  each  stone  around  the  head,  and  then  cast  it  in  to  the  hole. 
After  which  the  animal  is  buried,  while  the  parties  standing  or  sitting 
around  the  hole  say,  "The  wicked  one  is  now  being  buried."  Owing  to 
this  murder,  the  Tshis  called  the  Akras  "Nkran  pon  wose  ye  du".  (The 
great  Akra,  whose  saying  is  the  tenth  i.e.  who  fulfil  what  they  say.) 
Prince  Okai  Koi  was  very  young  when  his  mother  was  buried 
alive;  on  coming  to  age,  he  desired  to  know  who  his  mother  was, 
as  well  as  her  name,  but  none  durst  tell  it.  Hence  the  Akras  have 
this  expression,  "Moko  lee  moni  fo  Okai  Koi",  i.e.  No  one  knows 
the  one  who  begat  Okai  Koi.  At  last  an  old  woman  told  him  all 
the  circumstances  connected  with  his  mother's  death.  He,  therefore, 
ascending  the  stool,  ruled  the  subjects  with  a  rod  of  iron.  In  his 
days  the  Akwamus,  Akuapems,  Obutus  &c.  were  under  him  as  be- 
fore. As  he  was  a  tyrant,  his  sons  Tete  An  tie,  Ayi  Fufoo,  Tete 
Ablo,  Ayai,  Ashangmo,  Okai  &c.  imitated  their  father.  They  often 
murdered  the  sons  of  the  chiefs  and  deprived  the  people  of  their 
newly  married  wives;  ordering  people  to  climb  up  trees,  they  then 
shot  an  arrow  at  them,  or  when  stabbing  any  one  with  a  dagger. 


20  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

they  wiped  off  the  blood  on  the  person  and  said,  "You  have  defiled 
my  knife!"  The  worse  among  the  sons  were  Tete  Ablo  and  Ayai; 
and  the  only  mild  one  was  Tete.  The  king  used  to  tell  him,  "My 
son,  do  what  you  please  and  show  your  dignity  while  lam  alive; 
when  I  am  dead,  your  time  to  reign  is  past".  The  mother  of  that 
Tete  was  from  Shai;  his  younger  brother  paid  a  visit  there,  and 
behaved  very  haughtily,  having  illegal  intercourse  with  a  married 
wife;  but  her  husband  dashed  out  the  offender's  brains  with  an  axe. 
The  report  of  the  murder  of  the  King's  son  reached  Akra,  and  forth- 
with Okai  Koi  put  himself  at  the  head  of  an  army  to  punish  the 
Shais.  The  king  of  Shugyi,  however,  objected  to  Okai  Koi's  march- 
ing to  Shai  in  person ;  but,-  after  persuading  him  to  return  home, 
went  down  with  his  army,  and  chastized  the  murderers. 

On  account  of  the  cruelties  of  the  king  and  his  sons,  Nikoilai, 
the  great  chief  of  Asere,  and  his  wife  Kuoko  Adsheinang,  kept  their 
son  Nikoite  (Amoii)  at  home  till  he  reached  the  state  of  man- 
hood. Nikoi  had  several  times  expressed  his  desire  to  be  allowed 
to  come  out,  or  at  least  to  accompany  his  father  once  to  visit  the 
capital,  but  was  not  allowed.  At  last,  at  his  repeated  and  urgent 
request,  the  father  consented  to  go  in  his  company  to  the  said  place, 
where  he  was  kept  close  to  the  father  when  at  court.  By  chance 
the  youth,  escorted  by  his  father's  retinue,  went  out  of  court  to 
discharge  water.  When  he  had  done  so.  Prince  Tete  Ablo  shot  an 
arrow  and  killed  him  on  the  spot.  The  attendants  were  struck 
with  horror.  The  chief  showed  the  dead  body  of  his  son  to  the 
king  and  reported  the  wicked  deed  of  the  prince.  The  only  reply 
was,  "Never  mind,  your  wife  will  get  you  another  son,  before  she 
has  passed  her  age."  To  get  Okai  Koi  into  trouble  for  all  his  wicked 
deeds,  the  chiefs  conspired  to  advise  him  to  have  the  Akwamu 
Prince  (then  staying  at  his  court,  cf.  above  page  13)  circumcised, 
as  he  himself  well  knew  that  uncircumcised  persons  were  strictly 
forbidden  by  the  great  fetish  to  attend  his  courts.  On  the  other 
hand  they  knew  that  circumcised  people  were  never  allowed  to 
ascend  the  stool  (or  throne)  of  Akwamu.  Prince  Odei  underwent 
the  operation,  to  his  great  delight,  as  several  Akra  princes,  who 
were  his  comrades,  had  been  circumcised  that  year.  No  sooner  had 
the  Akwamu  Prince  been  circumcised,  than  the  great  chief  Nikoilai 
with  several  others  told  the  Akwamus  what  had  happened. 

During  those  days  a  son  of  the  king  of  Labade  came  to  the  capital 
and  stayed  with   the  young  princes  of  the  King.     While  the  boys 


Chapter  II.  21 

amused  themselves  with  shooting-  arrows  about,  an  arrow  of  the 
Prince  of  Labade  went  straight  into  the  king's  harem.  He  wanted 
to  go  there  and  get  back  the  arrow,  but  his  comrades  dissuaded 
him.  He  persisted,  was  caught  by  the  eunuchs,  brought  before  the 
king,  and,  by  his  order,  at  once  beheaded.  This  shocking  report 
was  brought  to  the  king  of  Labade,  who  quietly  submitted  to  this 
ill-treatment  and  attended  the  yearly  festival  of  Okai  Koi  as  usual. 
Rut  when  the  time  for  celebrating  the  festival  of  Labade  came  on, 
Okai  Koi  ordered  the  great  chief  of  Gbese,  whose  duty  it  was  to 
join  the  Labades  in  their  religious  festivals  and  ceremonies,  not  to 
attend,  as  he  was  determining  to  fight  them.  The  chief  obeyed, 
and  assisted  with  his  army  in  attacking  the  Labades,  who  were  de- 
feated and  driven  to  Shai ;  some  say  to  the  Coast,  when  one  half 
of  the  people  stayed  at  Ladoku,  the  rest  at  Nyedueshi,  where  they 
dug  the  well  there. 

The  Akras,  being  now  tired  with  the  wicked  king,  advised  the 
Akwamus  to  refuse  j)a3'ing  the  annual  tribute.  They  asked,  "How 
are  we  to  do  so  ?"  The  reply  was,  "Since  the  king  has  circum- 
cised Prince  Odei,  who  should  become  your  king,  you  may  take 
up  that  as  a  cause  of  revolt.  We  shall  support  you !"  The  Akwa- 
uius  accordingly  invited  the  Prince  to  the  capital.  Here,  while  wash- 
ing himself  with  soap,  he  was  perceived  to  be  indeed  circumcised, 
whereupon  they  refused  to  pay  the  tribute.  About  this  time  the 
king  of  Akwamu  died,  and  Odei  was  denied  the  right  of  succeeding 
to  the  vacant  stool.  Embarrased  as  he  was  at  that  time,  he  sent 
repeatedly  to  Okai  Koi  to  restore  the  foreskin,  a  demand  contrary 
to  reason !  He  threatened  to  attack  the  Akras,  if  the  foreskin  were 
not  forthcoming ;  but  they  being  twenty  times  more  powerful  than 
the  Akwamus,  no  notice  was  taken  of  it.  Ansa  Sasraku  (who  seems 
to  have  succeeded  to  the  stool  instead  of  Odei)  persisted  in  this 
demand,  so  Okai  Koi  assembled  his  generals  and  great  chiefs  and 
consulted  them  what  to  do.  They  replied,  ''Send  only  one  great 
chief  to  plunder  them !"  European  arms  and  ammunition  were  very 
rare  in  those  days,  so  that  every  general  had  but  one  gun  and 
ten  rounds  each  ;  the  warriors  used  bows  and  spears.  The  Akwa- 
mus had  nothing  of  that  kind,  but  bows  and  spears ;  they  had, 
however,  hired  the  Agonas  and  Akrons  (Gomoas)  in  the  Fante 
country,  promising  them  a  box  of  gold  dust  each,  which  four  men 
could  scarcely  carry  (but  which  the  Akwamus  never  paid).  The 
war  was  declared  and   the   field  was    taken.     But   the   great  chief 


22  History   of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Nikoilai  with  the  majority  of  Okai  Koi's  warriors  had  arranged  with 
the  enemy  to  lire  without  bullets.  Thus  they  did  in  several  engage- 
ments, till,  on  being  found  out,  they  actually  deserted  the  king, 
placed  at  their  head  Prince  Ashangmo,  the  son  of  the  king's  brother 
Okai  Yai,  and  marched  to  Mlafi.  On  account  of  this  desertion  of 
Okai  Koi,  the  annual  dance  of  the  king  and  the  people  known  as 
Berebe  got  the  name  "Oshi"  :  ^'osi  otse,  osi  onye"  i.e.  you  deserted 
your  father  and  mother.  After  several  engagements  with  the  rest 
of  the  warriors  and  his  body-guard,  most  of  whom  had  been  slain, 
the  poor  king  was  driven  from  the  capital  to  Nyantrabi.  Here  his 
son  Tete  said  deeply  moved  to  his  wicked  father:  "This  is  what  I 
always  told  you,  father,  if  all  your  people  were  present,  I  should 
not  have  so  much  to  tight  alone!"  They  advised  the  king  to  put 
an  end  to  his  life  rather  than  submit  to  such  a  disgrace.  He  therefore 
painted  his  face  and  front  with  white  clay  and  his  back  with  char- 
coal, mounted  his  royal  stool  and  again  enquired:  "My  people,  do 
,you  wish  me  to  commit  suicide?"  The  warriors  replied:  "Yes,  we 
won't  have  any  king  to  govern  us."  The  poor  king  then  prayed 
that  no  glory  should  ever  accompany  any  exertion  of  his  subjects 
who  had  deserted  him,  and  then  shot  himself  dead.  He  fell  upon 
his  face,  which  bore  the  sign  of  justification,  and  so  the  glory  de- 
l)arted  from  the  Aseres,  but  we  say  rather  from  the  whole  Akra, —  as 
ever  since  this  event,  which  took  place  at  Nyantrabi  on  the  20***  of  June 
1660,  hardly  any  exertion  or  military  exploit  of  the  Akras  for  Europeans 
or  otherwise  has  been  fully  successful  or  duly  appreciated.  The  king's 
sister  with  two  Princes,  the  royal  stool  and  few  of  their  people,  Hed  for 
protection  to  Tong  (Little  Popo).  It  appears  that  the  defeated  Akras, 
when  pressed  by  the  Akwainus,  took  with  them  the  head  of  Okai 
Koi,  expecting  thus  to  be  left  in  peace;  but  this  rather  encouraged 
the  enemy  to  ask  their  submission.  The  Akras  attributed  their 
conquest  by  the  Akwamus  to  the  Portuguese  converting  the  lagoon 
Kole  into  a  salt-]»it,  a  profanation  which,  they  said,  provoked  the 
vengeance  of  their  fetishes  upon  them. 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  we  must  briefly  speak  of  the  appellation 
given  by  the  Tshi  people  to  this  small  Ga  tribe.  It  is  ''Nkran  poh 
wose  ye  du,  ketekere,  odgm  nni  amamtb",  which  means,  the  great 
Akra,  whose  saying  is  the  tenth  (true)  and  is  durable,  carrying  on 
warfare  without  desolation.  If  we  ask,  at  wliich  time  was  such  a 
high  name  given  to  this  tribe,  and  what  induced  the  Tshi  people 
to  do  so,  althougii  there  is  an  old  desolation  of  theirs  at  AyawasoV 


Chapter  II.  23 

A  reply  to  this  (juestion  is,  the  appellation  was  given  to  the  Ga- 
tribe  during  their  glorious  days;  yet  it  is  api»licable  for  all  times, 
for  the  present  as  well  as  for  the  future. 

1.  The  Tshi  nation  may  have  found  that  the  Akras  are  a  divinely 
favoured  tribe,  when  they  consider  how  from  time  immemorial  they 
had  been  trying  to  extirpate  and  root  them  out  from  the  place  di- 
vinely allotted  to  them,  by  different  inroads,  expeditions,  invasions 
and  wars,  without  obtaining  their  object. 

2.  They  apply  the  title  to  them,  because  they  had  succeeded  in 
establishing  their  power  fully  over  the  aboriginal  races  of  Fante 
and  other  places,  whilst  with  them  they  had  failed. 

3.  By  nature  the  Akras  are  mild  and  inoffensive,  yet  unconquer- 
able, independent  and  not  easily  governed.  Wherever  an  Akra 
man  goes,  he  is  not  only  respected  on  account  of  his  national  pres" 
tige,  but  by  his  personal  abilities  and  qualification,  able  to  endure 
any  hardship  and  privation  thrice  better  than  any  one  of  another 
tribe.  In  wars,  in  travellings,  in  voj'^ages,  in  times  of  epidemic, 
they  are  divinely  more  preserved  than  any  other  nation.  When 
two  or  three  Akras  would  die  in  any  of  the  above  emergencies, 
the  loss  of  any  other  tribes  in  their  company  is  counted  by  dozens. 

4.  From  the  beginning,  when  not  corrupted  by  the  Tshi  people, 
they  were  strict  observers  of  their  religious  rites  —  a  religion  which 
appears  a  .Jewish  one,  but  now  corrupted  by  fetishism;  they  were 
entirely  forbidden  to  have  anything  to  do  with  human  blood.  Even 
when  a  drop  of  blood  is  being  shed  in  an  assault,  or  by  boys  throwing 
stones,  the  king  and  elders  are  bound  to  make  a  sacrifice  by  way 
of  purification,  and  the  parties  are  fined.  We  say  a  Jewish  one, 
which  we  prove  by  a  few  leading  facts  in  their  sj'^stem  of  observances. 

a)  A  kind  of  baptism  of  children  a  week  after  their  birth,  when  the 
father  chooses  the  best  characters  among  his  relations  or  friends 
to  fetch  the  child  from  the  room  into  the  yard;  there  he  throws  a 
few  drops  of  water  on  the  roof  of  the  principal  room  in  the  family 
compound,  which  he  receives  again  in  small  drops  and  throws  thrice 
on  the  child  and  then  names  it. 

h)  Children  are  named  after  their  grandfathers,  grandmothers  or 
fathers.  The  father's  precedes  the  son's  name,  as  for  instance  Ayite 
Okai,  Okai  Koi,  Okang  Ngmashi,  Teko  Dedei.  When  the  child's 
name  precedes  the  father's,  it  is  by  way  of  resjjcct  to  superiors 
e.g.  Akoitshe  Adotei,  (Jkaitshe  Ayite,  Ngmashitshe  Okang.  In  all 
the  pure  Akra  names  of  male  and  female  children,  the  fathers  name 


24  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante 

is  called  first:  Ayi  Dede,  Ayi  Kokg,  Ayi  Kai,  Ayi  Tshotsho,  Ayi 
Fofo,  now  Ayile  (Ayele),  Ayiko  (Ayoko),  Ayikai,  Ayitsho,  Ayifo. 
Besides  that,  children  are  the  heirs  to  the  estate  of  the  parents,  and 
not  nephews. 

c)  The  circumcisloQ  which  every  male  child  of  six  to  ten  years 
of  age  is  to  undergo ;  —  slaves  of  that  age  are  also  circumcised. 
This  practice  admits  them  to  the  courts  of  the  principal  fetishes ; 
an  uncircumcised  person  —  may  he  be  a  king  of  any  nation  —  is 
never  allowed  to  step  into  the  yard  of  the  fetish,  but  is  kept  out- 
side, when  any  ceremony  is  to  be  performed  by  him.  Neither  are 
persons  having  superfluity  of  members  and  menstruous  women  per- 
mitted to  go  inside. 

d)  At  the  yearly  harvest-feast  called  Homowo  the  door  posts  or 
walls  are  painted  with  red  clay,  similar  to  what  the  Israelites  did 
at  their  Passover, —  at  which  time  all  differences  existing  in  a  family 
must  be  settled  in  peace,  with  several  other  things  which  we  can 
adduce,  but  shall  treat  of  in  the  customs  of  the  Akras. 

e)  Their  government  is  patriarchal,  and  the  ruler  is  styled  Lomo 
or  Priest,  —  Lomo  is  now  slightly  corrupted  for  Lumo  i.e.  a  king 
or  governor. 

When  it  shall  please  the  Divine  Protector,  who  has  placed  such 
a  small  tribe  amidst  the  numerous  populations  on  the  Gold  Coast, 
to  remove  the  present  superstitious  blindness  from  their  minds,  and 
bring  them  to  Christianity  in  masses,  they  will  be  seen  among  the 
tribes  as  really  a  favoured  people! 


CHAPTER  III. 


King  Ashangmo's  defence  of  the  country  against  the  Akwamus.  —  His 
being  repulsed  with  the  Akras  to  Little  Popo  and  Tetetutu,  and  his 
wars  with  the  Dahomians  and  Angulas. —  New  settlements  and  towns 
formed  on  the  coast  by  the  Akras,  and  emigrants  from  Dankera,  Osu- 
doku,  Angula  and  Fra.     1660—1680. 

The  majority  of  the  warriors  of  Akra  with  king  Ashangmo  at  their 
head,  hearing  at  Mlafi  the  death  of  Okai  Koi,  returned  home,  en- 
gaged the  Akwamus,  and  drove  them  to  Fante.  The  poem  com- 
posed by  them  at  that  time  was: 


Chapter  III.  25 

Owu  a  okum  Ukai  Koi  Adu  nui  aiii. 

Uwu  a  okum  Ansa   Aku  wo  ani. 

Yerebao,  yerebao,  yerebesi ! 

The  death  which  killed  Okai  Koi  Ada  has  no  eyes  (i.e.  is  inglorious). 

The  death   which  killed  Ansa  Aku  has  eyes  (is  glorious). 

We  are  pressing  on  forward  to  gore! 

Ashangrng  with  his  army  kept  up  fighting  with  the  Akwamus  for 
20  years,  but  could  not  establish  his  power  over  them  again.  The 
treachery  of  tlie  generals,  who  were  aspiring  to  the  kingship,  was 
a  source  of  constant  discord  and  exposed  the  country  to  the  attacks 
of  the  Akwamus.  This  obliged  Ashangrng  in  the  year  1680  to  re- 
tire to  Little  Popo  with  all  the  Akras  from  Labade  down  to  Ningo. 
The  people  of  Lakple  in  Angula  were  at  that  time  in  Prampram; 
they  also  fled  to  that  place.  It  was  at  that  general  movement,  we 
suppose,  when  king  Anno  ofTema  or  Kpeshi  composed  this  poem, 
after  his  brother  Annokoi  had  removed  to  Obutu. 

Kpeshi  Aung  mitere  wo  e,  Kpeshi  Anno  mitere  wo. 

Labiokg  Atsemfo  e,  Kpeshi  Anno  mitere   wo. 

Ya  nyeyaa  lo,  ba  nyebaa  lo,  Kpeshi  Anno  mitere  wg. 

Kpeshi  Aung  is  starting  off  to-morrow. 

Labigkg  Akemfo,   Kpeshi  Anng  is  starting  off  to-morrow. 

Are  you  for  starting  or  staying,   Kpeshi  Anng  is  starting  to-morrow. 

The  main  body  separated  from  Ashangmo's  men  and  emigrated 
back  to  Tetetutu,  while  he  and  his  people  marched  towards  Little 
Popo.  When  the  Angulas  joined  his  army,  he  fought  with  the  people 
of  Bei,  then  subjects  of  the  king  of  Dahome,  drove  them  beyond 
Popo,  took  possession  of  the  place  and  made  his  capital  at  Gredshi. 
The  king  of  Dahome,  who  had  been  informed  by  his  people  of 
what  Ashangrng  had  done,  despatched  an  overwhelming  army  to 
attack  him  in  his  capital.  Hearing  of  such  an  army  coming  against 
him,  Ashangmg  concealed  his  small  force  in  the  bush  behind  the 
river  Mgmg  and  allowed  the  Dahomian  army  to  pass  up  towards 
the  Volta  in  search  of  him.  Then  he  contrived  means  of  cutting 
a  deep  trench  between  the  two  rivers  Ngmaka  and  Mgmg  and  the 
sea,  and  shut  the  Dahomian  army  in.  He  then  attacked  them  openly 
on  their  returning  from  the  Volta  and  gained  a  complete  victory 
over  them.  He  sent  one  of  the  prisoners  back  with  one  of  his  eyes 
and  ears  plucked  out,  to  report  the  disaster  the  army  had  met  with 
to  the  king.  Akpo  was  astounded  at  such  a  signal  defeat  by  a 
fugitive,  and  was  obliged  to  make  up  with  Ashangmg.  He  invited 
him  to  the  capital  Abome,   and  made  him  the  first  general  of  his 


26  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and   Asante. 

forces.  Ashangnio,  beino'  thus  elevated,  cunningly  gave  his  sister 
Ayitb  in  marriage  to  the  king,  through  whose  means  he  escaped 
all  the  [)lots  formed,  either  by  the  king  himself  or  his  generals, 
against  the  life  of  the  victorious  Akra  king,  and  at  last  retired  safe 
to  his  capital.  That  signal  defeat  of  the  Dahomian  army  became 
a  byword  of  the  Akras :  "Asanmo  egbe  Akpo",  Ashangmo  has  de- 
feated Akpo,  when  success  crowns  an  undertaking  anticipated  to 
be  difficult.  The  successors  of  king  Ashangmo  kept  up  continual 
war  with  the  Angulas,  who  were  known  to  Bosman  as  the  Kotos, 
a  name  still  applied  to  them  as  "Anglo  Kotoe".  At  that  time  the 
kingdom  of  Angula  was  very  inconsiderable,  the  Akras  in  Popo 
were  not  very  numerous  either,  but,  as  Bosman  says,  very  warlike. 
They  finally  compelled  the  Angulas  to  sue  for  peace,  only  to  gain 
time  to  form  alliances  with  other  tribes,  or  to  ask  the  aid  of  the 
Akwamus,  old  enemies  of  the  Akras. 

During  the  period  when  two  kings  were  ruling  the  kingdom  of 
Akwamu,  the  Akras  in  Popo  asked  assistance  from  the  old  king, 
and  the  Angulas,  that  of  the  young  king.  The  Akwamus  were, 
however,  very  cunning  to  assist  the  weaker  one  in  order  that  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  be  destroyed.  Sometimes  both  parties  were 
supported  by  Akwamu  warriors.  In  the  year  1700,  the  king  of 
Popo  surprised  the  Angulas  and  drove  them  from  their  country. 
But  as  Akonno,who  was  the  king  of  Akwamu  in  1702,  took  a  greater 
interest  in  the  Angulas,  he  re-instated  them  again  in  the  country. 
This  proves  that  the  alliance  between  the  two  countries  had  existed 
for  a  vevy  long  time;  hence  their  grudge  against  Akra  is  under- 
stood. Those  who  think  that  the  alliance  between  Akwamu  and 
Angula  was  made  after  the  expulsion  of  the  former  from  the  Akem- 
Peak,  must  by  the  above  statement  be  convinced  of  their  mistake. 

One  of  the  kings  of  Popo  was  Ofori,  who  appears  to  have  been 
the  father  of  king  Obli.  (He  must  not  be  confounded  with  Ofori 
Dosu,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  in  the  Danish  expedition  in  1784.) 
He  is  described  by  Bosnian  as  very  brave,  feared  and  respected  by 
all  the  neighbouring  kings.  The  king  of  Ofra  once  rebelled  against 
the  king  of  Dahome,  whose  tributary  chief  he  was,  and  not  only 
threw  off  his  allegiance  to  him,  but  killed  a  Dutch  factor  Mr.  Hol- 
wert.  King  Ofori,  hired  to  punish  the  rebel,  invaded  his  country 
with  an  army,  and  conquered  it  without  difliculty.  The  offenders 
were  apprehended  and  delivered  u^)  to  the  king  of  Dahome.  After 
this  victory  he  was  asked  not  to  return  until  he  had  conquered  the 


Chapter   III.  27 

Whydas.  He  marched  at:;ainsf.  them  and  encamped  in  fheir  country, 
waiting  for  a  supply  of  ammunition  from  the  kinj;  of  Dahome  un- 
der a  good  convoy.  The  Whydas  attacked  this  convoy  with  a  strong 
force  and  cai)tured  the  whole  supply  of  powder.  Ofori,  having  spent 
his  shot  and  powder,  was  obliged  to  retreat  home,  which  saved 
him  from  the  Whydas,  who  had  proposed  attacking  his  camp,  as 
they  knew  he  was  short  of  ammunition.  The  Whydas,  being  in- 
formed of  Ofori's  retreat,  did  not  trouble  themselves  to  pursue  him, 
being  glad  to  have  got  rid  of  such  a  dangerous  enemy. 

The  Angulas  had  })repared  to  attack  Ofori  as  soon  as  he  should 
give  battle  to  the  Whydas.  On  his  way  home,  hearing  of  their  in- 
tentions, he  attacked  them,  although  by  this  time  the  Angulas  had 
formed  alliances  with  other  tribes  and  were  stronger  than  himself. 
They  gave  him  a  warm  reception  and  slew  a  great  number  of  his 
men.  Enraged  at  this  loss,  he  rushed  into  the  thickest  of  the  enemy, 
;uid  was,  after  a  desperate  struggle,  slain  with  many  of  his  followers. 

Bosnian  says,  ''the  present  king,  though  more  peaceable  and  mild, 
yet  prudently  revenged  his  brother's  death  on  the  Angulas —  always 
attacking  them  in  their  weakest  condition,  which  measure  he  pur- 
sued so  long  as  to  drive  them  out  of  their  country." 

In  1672  (not  1662)  the  English  came  to  Akra,*)  got  a  piece  of 
land  and  built  James'  Fort. 

The  owners  of  the  land  selected  for  the  building  were  Adote  Ni 
Ashare  and  his  brother  Tete  Kpeshi,  who  before  were  staying  in 
Kinka  (Dutch  Town)  with  their  brethren,  when  unexpectedly  an 
incident  took  place  which  obliged  them  to  remove  to  the  elevation 
of  ground  west  of  the  lagoon  Kole,  where  they  settled.  Adede  Molai 
Kroko,  the  Priest  of  Oyeni,  was  returning  from  Osu  (Christiansborg) 
one  night  with  a  number  of  his  people.  Upon  seeing  a  certain 
black  figure  supposed  to  be  a  hyena  moving  in  the  bush,  he  fired 
at  the  figure,  which,  to  their  great  astonishment,  turned  out  to  be 
an  old  woman.  This  led  to  an  uproar  and  quarrel,  in  consequence 
of  which  they  removed  to  that  spot  after  paying  the  customary  fines. 

The  English  asked  the  piece  of  land  from  Adote  and  his  brother 
Tete  Kpeshi,  though  the  site  selected  was  the  sacred  grove  of  their 
fetish  Oyeni;  but  the  brothers  gave  up  the  land  on  condition  that 
they  should  be  allowed  access  to  the  spot  to  offer  their  annual  sacri- 
fices; and  thus  the  Fort  was  erected. 

*)  cf.  above  p.  16.  J.  Beecham,  Ashantee  and  the  Gold  Coast,  p.  .36. 
B.  Cruickshank,  18  years  on  the  Gold  Coast,  I.  21.  —  Chr. 


28  History   of  the  Gold   Coast  and   Asante. 

The  forts  of  the  Dutch,  Eng-lish,  and  Danes  at  Akra,  during  those 
days  of  dissension  between  the  Akwamus  and  Akras,  invited  the 
latter,  to  flee  to  the  coast  for  protection  from  the  oppression  of  the 
Akwamus.  Of  the  Aseres  and  Aboras,  who  came  down  to  the  coast 
to  join  the  people  living  there  before,  the  following  names  are  still 
in  the  memory  of  the  people:  Saku  Olenge,  Akotia  Owosika,  0- 
shamra,  Ayikai,  Siahene,  Osu  Kwatei,  Anyama  Seni,  Amantiele 
Akele  &c.  Ayikai  Siahene  with  his  people  settled  near  James  Fort 
and  founded  Akangmadshe  and  Mereku  i.e.  Bereku  quarter.  Adote 
Ni  Ashare  and  Tete  Kpeshi  with  their  people  removed  from  their 
site  beyond  the  lagoon  Kole  and  settled  by  the  fort,  whose  descen- 
dants also  composed  the  Sempe  and  Brohung  quarter. 

Dankera  having  been  conquered  in  the  year  1700  by  the  Asantes, 
a  quarrel  about  the  succession  to  the  royal  stool  broke  out  among 
the  royal  princes  of  that  state.  A  Dutch  officer  was  consequently 
sent  there  to  restore  peace.  He  brought  the  following  headmen  and 
noble  women  to  Dena  (Elmina)  to  be  protected :  Afrifa,  Korankyi, 
Amo  Panyin,  Amo  Kuma,  Kwaw  Nsia,  Korama,  and  Nsiawa,  with 
several  others.  Some  of  them  returned  back  to  Dankera,  when 
peace  was  restored.  Korama  seems  to  have  been  a  nearest  relation 
of  the  royal  family;  she  had  a  son  named  Otu,  who  in  consequence  of 
the  recent  conquest  was  surnamed  "Ahiakwa",  one  who  met  with 
or  got  nothing  i.e.  born  when  their  glory  had  departed.  He,  being 
an  intelligent  youth,  was  employed  as  a  servant  by  the  above  men- 
tioned officer  who  was  shortly  after  appointed  commandant  of  the 
Dutch  Fort  Crevecoeur  and  brought  down  both  Otu  and  his  people 
already  named  to  Akra.  The  Priest  of  Nai  being  then  the  chief 
on  the  coast,  to  whom  a  monthly  stipend  was  paid  by  the  Dutch 
Government,  the  Dankera  headmen  and  women  were  consigned  to 
his  care.  After  som§  years'  residence,  a  piece  of  land  was  obtained 
from  the  priest  through  the  influence  of  the  commandant,  on  which 
Otu  and  his  people  built  houses.  Being  free  and  intelligent  trading 
people,  they  acquired  riches  in  a  short  time,  and  enlarged  their 
quarter  very  rapidly  with  the  refugees  from  Dankera,  Akwamu, 
Akem  and  Akuapem.  Bobiko,  a  relative  of  Korama,  then  at  Akem, 
heard  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Dankeras,  and  sent  her  son  Amo 
Nakawa  to  Akra  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  it.  Satisfied  with  the 
condition  of  his  relatives,  Bobiko  and  her  people  were  by  their  ad- 
vice induced  to  join  them  at  Akra.  But  an  incident  took  place  while 
Amo  Nakawa  was  on  the  coast.    His  wife  Ahwanjabea  of  Akwamu 


Chapter  III  29 

went  on  a  visit  to  her  parents  at  the  place,  where  the  king  tried 
in  vain  to  seduce  her,  and  Akonug,  being  defeated  in  his  object, 
in  revenge  applied  a  burning  tobacco  [)ipe  to  the  back  of  her  in- 
nocent child  Dako.  The  child  was  brought  down  to  Akra  witli  the 
whole  family  of  Amo  Nakawa,  when  the  sad  case  was  told  him  by 
his  wife.  He  (hereupon  made  a  solemn  vow  of  revenging  himself 
one  day  on  the  king  of  Akwamu  for  that  cruelty  to  his  wife  and 
child.  Hence  afterwards  Amo  Nakawa  became  the  zealous  chief 
among  the  ambassadors  of  Akra  when  negotiating  with  the  kings 
of  Akem,  whose  relation  he  was.  He  prevailed  on  the  Obutus  and 
Agonas  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Akwamu  while 
the  latter  was  threatened  with  war. 

All  the  Europeans  established  on  the  coast  had  their  own  labourers ; 
some  were  free  people,  and  the  rest  their  own  slaves  as  the  pro- 
perty of  each  company,  who  were  designated  Alatas,  a  Fante  name 
for  i»eople  of  Lagos,  Yoruba  &c.  Thus  we  have  Kinka  or  Dutch  Alata, 
English  Alata,  and  Osu  or  Danish  Alata.  These  Alatas  in  each 
town  formed  their  own  quarter  in  connection  with  the  towns'  people, 
and  were  acknowledged  as  citizens  of  the  place  by  joining  the  estab- 
lished band  in  the  towns.  The  elders  among  them  had  the  right 
as  citizens  to  become  grandees  or  counsellors  of  the  king  or  chief 
in  a  town.  Thus  the  headman  of  the  English  Alatas  was  one  O- 
sho  or  Odshoe  (not  Kodsho),  surnamed  Wets  he,  i.e.  housefather, 
who  being  a  very  intelligent  and  powerful  man  by  his  connection 
with  the  English,  grew  very  rich,  had  numerous  slaves  himself, 
besides  the  Alatas,  and  having  been  in  the  country  since  the  Eng- 
lish established  themselves  here  in  1672,  became  the  king  of  James' 
Town.  He  had  been  instructed  in  the  Tshi  style  of  managing  a 
state,  and  had  a  stool  also  made  and  consecrated  to  him  by  Chief 
Oto  Brafo  of  Kinka  (Dutch  Akra).  There  appears  no  one  to  have 
l)een  appointed  then  as  the  successor  of  chief  Anege ;  even  if  there 
was  one,  he  was  more  the  priest  of  Oyeni,  than  a  king.  Odshg's 
successor  Kofi  Akrashi,  a  native  of  Dutch  Akra,  easily  raised  the 
power  and  fame  of  that  family  very  gloriously.  It  was  the  same 
with  a  Fante  chief,  named  Kwabena  Bonne,  who  was  brought  to 
Osu  (Christiansborg)  with  a  large  family  by  the  Danes.  He,  although 
a  free  government  agent,  had  to  build  his  house  close  to  the  Castle 
in  the  Alata  quarter.  Chief  Ahene  of  Dena  (Elmina)  also  emigra- 
ted with  a  large  family  to  Akra,  and  made  his  permanent  stay 
with  the  Dutch  Alatas  in  the  Dutch  Town. 


30  History  of  the  C4olfl   Coast  and  Asante. 

The  people  of  Osudua  or  Christian sborg  also  emigrated  in  com- 
pany with  the  different  Adangme  tribes  from  Same  in  the  East, 
and  having  crossed  the  Volta,  they  settled  M'ith  the  main  body  on 
the  Osudoku  hill.  Before  their  emigration  to  this  place  there  was 
a  single  family  of  one  Tete  Manydi  and  his  brother  Tete  Bo  and 
his  sister  Dede  Mosa  from  Dutch  Akra  settled  here,  before  the  Por- 
tuguese arrived.  The  family  fetishes  of  Tete  Manyoi  are  Leniogbe, 
i.e.  a  fetish  of  the  Les,  and  Nyankumle,  which  claims  pre-eminence 
of  Osu.  The  former  is  a  piece  of  a  round  white  stone,  now  lying 
neglected  at  the  west  corner  of  the  Basel  Mission  Chapel. 

An  incident  is  said  to  have  taken  place  at  Osudoku,  after  the 
time  when  the  Danes  had  come  to  this  coast,  which  caused  a 
certain  family  to  emigrate  to  Osuyokpo  near  Shai,  thence  to  Osu- 
ko  near  Kwabenyang,  who  were  seeking  the  protection  either  of 
the  Akras  or  the  Danes. 

Tradition  differs  as  to  the  real  cause  of  that  fiimily's  emigration. 
Some  people  say,  that  the  Les  or  Agotims,  who  were  driven  from 
Poni  and  Lahe,  did  not  cross  the  Volta  at  once,  but  settled  near 
the  bank  of  the  river.  Being  a  warlike  tribe,  they  kept  up  fight- 
ing with  the  Osudokus,  that  one  chief,  named  Noete,  came  with  the 
view  of  asking  the  aid  of  king  Oka!  Koi  to  fight  his  enemy.  The 
king  sent  an  ambassador,  Tete  Boako  Aforo  by  name,  who  escorted 
the  chief  to  the  Danes.  Noete,  having  obtained  protection,  sent  for 
his  brother  Naku  Tete  and  their  people,  and  founded  the  seven  huts 
known  as  Butaiateng  in  Christiansborg. 

Another  tradition  is :  An  Otufo  castom  being  performed  {by  a 
woman  named  Namole  for  her  daughter)  at  Osudoku,  some  precious 
beads  were  borrowed,  as  people  usually  do  on  such  occasions.  A 
fowl  picked  up  one  of  the  beads  and  swallowed  it,  but  none  saw  it. 
In  returning  the  beads,  one  was  found  missing;  so  the  owners  re- 
fused to  accept  the  rest.  They  offered  to  replace  it  with  another 
bead,  or  even  to  pay  seven  persons  for  the  single  bead,  as  was  the 
law  at  that  time ;  yet  the  owners  declined,  consequently  a  quarrel 
ensued.  Namole  and  her  brother  Noete  Doku  with  their  people 
travelled  to  Osuko,  and  found  there  a  hunter  of  king  Odoi  Akem 
of  Labade,  named  Kadi,  who  conducted  them  to  the  king.  They 
asked  the  king's  arbitration  in  the  matter,  but  being  then  engaged 
in  settling  a  dispute  between  the  Akwamus  and  the  people  of  Bere- 
kuso,  he  had  no  time  at  once  to  decide  their  case.  But  one  Noete 
Shai,    the  interpreter   of  Llie  Danes,    happoned    to  lind  some   of  the 


Chapter  TIT.  31 

women  who  came  to  sell  pots  at  the  Adshiriwa  market,  who  told 
Noete  what  was  the  cause  of  their  emigration  to  Osuko.  Through 
his  agency  Namole  and  Noete  Doku  were  brought  before  the  Da- 
nish Governor,  who  undertook  to  protect  them  and  to  settle  Iheir 
case.  The  name  of  the  Governor,  as  the  natives  called  him,  is 
Erisen,  which,  we  suj)pose,  was  Ei-ik  Oehlsen,  who  died  in  1(398. 
Odoi  Akem  at  last  came  to  Christiansborg  and  told  the  Governor 
what  he  was  asked  by  the  people  to  do  for  tiiem.  Their  enemies, 
hearing  at  Osudoku  of  what  the  white  men  would  do  for  them, 
gave  the  case  up  and  tied  from  the  counlry.  The  bead  lost  was 
at  last  found  in  the  gizzard  of  the  fowl  when  killed  by  the  remain- 
ing family  of  Noete  and  Namole  on  the  day  they  were  to  quit 
Osudoku  for  Christiansborg.  The  gizzard  was  cut  into  very  soiall 
pieces,  dried  and  brought  down  with  them,  when  every  member 
of  the  family  took  a  piece  and  ate ;  hence  tlie  custom  that  the  giz- 
zard of  a  fowl  is  never  eaten  by  a  single  person,  but  by  a  whole 
company  sitting  around  a  dish  prepared  of  a  fowl. 

The  town  Osu  increased  rapidly  by  people  removing  from  Dutch 
Akra,  Labade,  and  several  other  places  to  reside  there  as  labourers 
to  the  Danish  Government,  as  well  as  by  affinity  with  the  two 
towns  above  named.  It  consists  of  three  quarters,  Kinkawe,  Ashante, 
and  Alata. 

The  byname  of  Osu  is  Abosha  and  a  nickname  is  Kadigbo,  of  which 
the  latter  alone  can  be  explained  by  guess  — they  being  escorted  to  the 
place  by  the  hunter  Kadi,  hence  they  are  called  Kadigbo,  which  means, 
the  guests  of  Kadi.  The  word  can,  however,  be  defined  by  Kadi  and 
gbai) ;  in  old  Ga,  ''kadi"  means  a  bahince,  and  "gbah",  big  i.e.  the  big- 
balance.  They,  although  emigrated  later  than  the  other  Akras,  had 
the  fortune  of  becoming  the  illustrious  among  the  Akra  towns  by  their 
connection  with  the  Danes.  Yet  the  most  probable  signification  of 
that  name  is  "Carrier  or  Carli  gbo'",  after  the  name  of  a  Portuguese 
or  Frenchman,  being  an  old  coaster,  who  may  have  brought  those 
emigrants  to  the  Governor. 

La  or  Labade  (Labadai).  —  The  people  of  La  were  originally  a 
portion  of  the  numerous  tribe  who  seem  to  have  been  the  first  settlers 
on  this  coast,  known  as  the  Les,  as  the  name  indicates.  The  people 
of  Gbese  in  Dutch-Akra,  the  Lates  in  Akuapem,  the  Lakples  who 
removed  from  Prampram  to  Angula,  the  inhabitants  of  Poni,  known 
as  the  Agotims,  as  well  as  the  former  inhabitants  of  Osu,  were 
all  of  the  same  tribe.     Names   of  persons   and   fetislies  with  La  or 


32  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

Le  as  the  first  syllable,  are  of  this  tribe,  showing  where  they  may 
hare  settled  before,  such  as  Lannia  (Langma),  Lashioko,  Lashiele, 
Lafa,  Laniogbe,  Lakpa,  which  are  names  of  fetishes  belonging  to 
this  tribe;  Late,  Late,  Lakote,  Lateboi  &c.,  names  of  persons. 

The  byname  of  La  is  Bonne,  which  shows  their  emigration  from 
Bonny;  they  are  said  to  have  come  to  that  part  of  the  world  with 
the  Akras.  They  emigrated  from  the  interior  to  that  place  in  con- 
sequence of  war,  and  at  Benin  and  Bonny  the  same  warfare  was 
carried  on,  till  they  were  obliged  to  quit  the  place  for  this  coast. 
They  also  apply  the  emigration  from  the  sea  to  themselves  and  say 
that  they  landed  at  Lagu  or  Dago,  the  Akras  landing  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  they  in  the  afternoon.  Staying  together  for  some  time, 
the  Akras  left  for  Laiima.  (It  may  be  that  the  Las  first  left  for  that 
place,  as  their  name  was  given  to  that  hill  as  Langma  or  Lamafi 
i.e.  the  abode  of  the  La  people.)  Thence  they  emigrated  to  Aboasa, 
Adshangote,  Nsaki,  and  Abese  by  the  river  near  Mayora,  and  the 
Akras  also  to  Ayawaso  &c.  A  good  road  was  made  between  the 
two  tribes  to  facilitate  intercourse.  Yet  the  La  people  entered  into 
alliance  with  the  Akwamus,  which  in  king  Okai  Koi's  time  was 
avenged  by  beheading  the  young  prince  of  La.  Once,  detaching  the 
people  of  Gbese,  the  brother  tribe  of  La,  from  participating  in  their 
yearly  feast,  Okai  Koi  attacked  the  Labades  with  great  slaughter. 
The  Gbeses,  however,  went  between  the  hostile  parties  and  brought 
peace  again;  the  Akwamus,  who  were  allies  of  the  defeated,  and 
who  might  have  helped  them,  came  too  late,  when  peace  had  al- 
readj^  been  made.  The  Akras,  not  favouring  the  alliance  between 
the  Labades  and  Akwamu,  commissioned  a  party  of  men  to  way- 
lay the  Akwamu  Queen,  who  had  attended  the  celebration  of  their 
feast,  and  was  killed  on  her  way  to  attend  the  feast  of  the  Labades. 
As  the  act  was  cunningly  perpetrated  close  to  their  town,  they  were 
charged  with  the  murder,  attacked  by  the  Akwamus,  and  sustained 
heavy  losses.  To  keep  up  their  friendship  in  spite  of  the  recent 
war,  the  Labades  wisely  had  recourse  to  a  prophecy  that  Lakpa 
had  predicted  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Akwamus  by  an  unknown 
power,  unless  they  obtained  an  absolving  ablution  from  him.  By 
that  means  they  were  again  united.  The  Tshis,  who  are  not  very 
obliging  to  fetishes,  easily  declared  war  after  this  against  the  La- 
bades, in  which,  according  to  La  history,  the  Akwamus  were  de- 
feated and  driven  beyond  the  Volta;  the  Labades  pursuing  them 
had  to  stay  for  several  years  at  Krgbo,  intermarried  between  them- 


Chapter  III.  33 

selves  and  then  removed  to  Adshimanti  on  the  Akuap«^m  hills. 
They  heard  of  the  Akwamus  having  returned  to  their  country  and 
preparing  to  fight  them;  but  the  fetish  Lakpa  objected  to  their 
doing  so  and  peace  was  restored.  Fi-om  Adshimanti  the  Labades 
[)roposed  joining  their  brother-tribe  of  Gbese,  but  Lakpa  objected 
to  this  too,  wherefore  they  removed  to  Shai  and  settled  at  Ladoku. 

We  suppose  the  contrary  of  what  the  La  history  says.  The  A- 
kwamus  were  never  driven  from  Nyanawase  but  once,  and  that  in 
1733.  The  Labades  may  liave  been  driven  rather  to  Krobo  by  the 
Akwamus.  At  Ladoku  they  formed  alliances  with  several  neigh- 
bouring tribes,  among  whom  were  the  Shais  and  Aggtims.  They 
entered  into  an  agreement  with  them  that  whoever  should  be  found 
guilty  of  an  intrigue  with  another  man's  wife,  should  be  delivered 
up  to  the  injured  party,  and  in  the  presence  of  both  parties  the 
culprit  should  have  his  brains  dashed  out  with  an  axe.  A  Labade 
man  was  the  first  who  was  found  guilty,  and  was  brought  to  justice. 
The  next  man  was  a  Shai,  the  son  of  the  king,  whom  his  people 
refused  to  deliver  up  to  the  Labades  to  be  executed.  The  con- 
sequence was  a  war,  which  raged  for  some  time,  till  the  Labades 
were  fain  to  seek  assistance  from  the  Akwamus,  The  latter  will- 
ingly complied,  and  rested  not  till  they  had  driven  the  Shais  to 
Shaigodshei. 

After  this  a  war  broke  out  between  them  and  the  Abonses,  who 
were  defeated  and  made  to  serve  Lakpa.  The  people  of  Gble 
(Berekuso)  were  also  defeated  and  treated  like  the  Abonses.  Not 
long  after  this,  king  Odoi  Atshem  L  of  Labade  died  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Adshei  Onano,  in  whose  reign  they  removed  from  La- 
doku to  Podoku  near  Tema. 

The  Temas  or  Kpeshis  had  been  weakened  by  the  combined  army 
of  Akra  and  Shuoyi,  and  knowing  their  weak  state,  they  asked 
the  Labades  to  make  a  covenant  with  them  to  avoid  future  hos- 
tilities. 

The  strategy  employed  by  the  Labades  was,  to  select  seven  chiefs 
from  each  tribe,  who  were  to  meet  at  an  appointed  place  to  take 
fetish-oath  together  to  cement  the  peace  between  them.  The  repre- 
senting chiefs  had  to  bring  their  own  fetish  to  administer  to  each 
party  simultaneously.  The  Kpeshi  chiefs  brought  their  chief  fetish 
Afutuoko  to  the  spot,  not  knowing  that  the  Labades  had  laid  an 
ambuscade  thereabout  ■,  so  both  the  seven  chiefs  and  Afutuoko  fell 
into  their  hands.    Tliis  great  war-fetish  being  captured,  the  majority 

3 


34  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

of  the  Kpeshis  fled  from  the  country.     Two  songs  of  that  time  refer 
to  the  war  with  Shai  and  the  capture  of  Afutugko. 

Ogbe  keke  wiilo  ke-jatsua  §ai  lurag, 

Sai  lurao  ni  yeo  dsidsi  le,  le  eke  efeg  "Kpa"  lo  ? 
Ogbe  (fetish;  Lakpa)  assumed  a  pheasant  and  shot  the  Shai  king. 
Shai  king,   who  lives  on  "dshidshi"  (country  food),  does  he  excel  "kpa"  ? 

Kpesi  Afutuoko,  otsole  Kpesi,  oke  ootsole  La  lo  ? 

Temanyo  Afutuoko,  otsole  Kpesi,  oke  ootsgle  Lji  lo? 
Kpeshi  Afutuoko,  thou  reposest  on  Kpeshi,  couldst  thou  repose  on  La? 
Tema-man  Afutugko,  thou  reposest  on  Kpeshi,  couldst  thou  repose  on  La  ? 

By  their  connection  with  Akwamu  the  Labades  acquired  much 
of  the  Tshi  character,  hence  they  got  this  appellation  "Dade  ye 
Twi",  Labades  are  Tshis. 

At  Podoku  the  Labades  felt  a  great  need  of  good  water  and  salt, 
therefore  commissioned  their  powerful  hunter  Sowa  to  survej'  the 
country  where  such  requisites  could  be  easily  obtained.  Sowa  met 
the  Ningowas  on  the  lagoon  Kpeshi,  who  were  busily  engaged  in 
making  salt.  He  asked  thenj  for  water  to  quench  his  thirst,  and 
being  shown  where  their  water  in  calabash  pots  was  placed,  he 
not  only  drank  as  much  as  he  desired,  but  broke  all  the  pots  and 
greatly  disappointed  the  poor  working  men  and  women.  This  was 
said  to  have  brought  on  a  war  between  Labade  and  Ningowa. 

We,  however,  prefer  the  following  statement.  The  Ningowas,  who 
were  long  before  established  near  the  coast  at  Wodoku,  were  the 
owners  of  the  land  thence  to  Teiashi  near  Christiansborg,  and  the 
Labades  were  obliged  to  ask  king  Afote  Okre  to  grant  theai  a 
piece  of  land  to  build  upon.  Adshei  Onano  was  then  their  king, 
and  Numo  Ngmasiii  his  great  chief;  the  estimate  of  the  king's  army 
was  8000,  whilst  the  chief's  was  7000  men.  The  priest  of  Ningo- 
wa,  Bokete  Lawe,  raised  objections  to  the  king's  allowing  the  La- 
bades to  reside  near  them ;  yet  his  opinion  was  overruled.  The 
Ningowas  being  then  very  powerful,  the  warlike  Labades  did  never 
dream  of  making  war  with  them,  so  they  lived  in  peace  a  long 
time.  The  former  had  a  custom  of  offering  a  human  being  alive 
annually  to  their  Angmu,  the  Black  Rock.  Sucii  victims  were 
kidnapped  during  the  night  from  any  town  by  the  Ningowas.  On 
the  day  when  the  custom  was  performed,  they  bad  to  repair  to 
the  sliore  where  Angmu  is  situated,  and  after  singing  and  dancing, 
the  priest  Bokete  Lawe  was  said  to  pray  till  the  sea  was  divided 
and  access  obtained  on  foot  to  the  rock,  where  they  had  to  spend 


Chapter  III.  35 

the  whole  day  in  making-  their  sacrifices.  In  returning  ashore,  tlie 
poor  victim  was  left  beliind,  when  the  priest  had  to  pray  again 
that  the  sea  might  come  together  and  drown  the  victim.  It  may 
be  the  contrary,  the  victiu)  may  have  been  killed  and  offered. 

Odole,  a  daughter  of  the  king  of  Labade,  was  missing  one  day; 
in  tracing  out,  they  were  informed  tiiat  she  had  been  offered  to 
Angmu.  The  Ningowas  were  charged  with  the  murder  of  the  girl, 
but  they  denied  it;  hence  war  was  declared  against  them.  Bokete 
Lawe  was  the  powerful  archer  among  his  people,  as  Sowa,  the 
priest  of  Lakpa,  the  famous  hunter  or  sharp-shooter  among  the 
Labades.  The  war  continued  for  months,  so  that  the  Ningowas 
could  not  have  access  to  remove  their  salt  from  Kpeshi.  Hence  the 
Labades  carried  off  all  the  salt  and  threw  it  into  every  reservoir 
(waterhole)  and  pool  belonging  to  their  enemy.  This  brought  on 
a  frightful  scarcity  of  fresh  water  in  all  the  towns  of  Ningowa,  and 
beside  that  ambuscades  were  laid  by  the  Labades  at  any  place 
where  fresh  water  might  be  obtained  by  them.  Tims  they  were 
reduced  to  awful  distress  from  want  of  water.  Having  studied  A- 
kwamu  policy,  the  Labades  cunningly  proposed  now  to  the  Ningo- 
was, that  the  hands  of  both  priests,  Lawe  and  Sowa,  should  be  cut 
off,  so  as  to  have  peace  again,  because  they  were  the  parties  who 
encouraged  the  continuance  of  the  hostilities  between  them.  They 
got  hold  on  their  sharp-shooter,  tied  him  up  and  brought  him  to 
Ningowa.  The  deluded  people  of  Ningowa  readily  consented  to 
that  proposal,  when  Sowa  was  found  having  his  hands  pinioned 
behind  him.  Lawe  was  called  upon  and  required  to  consent  to 
have  only  one  hand  cut  off  to  save  the  whole  people  from  dying 
with  thirst.  The  priest  asked  in  presence  of  the  whole  assembly, 
''Children,  do  you  mean  to  cut  off  my  hand,  the  hand  which  draws 
the  bow  to  favour  you  ?  Do  you  mean  to  ruin  yourselves  by  cutt- 
ing oiT  my  hand  which  defends  you,  children  V"  Not  waithig  for 
the  Labades  who  had  made  the  proposal  and  ought  to  have  cut 
off  their  huntsman's  hand  first,  they  overpowered  the  old  venerable 
priest,  and  his  hand  was  cut  off' in  presence  of  the  whole  assembly. 
After  which,  he  assembled  the  whole  of  his  family  and  relatives 
of  Bobowe,  gave  out  a  song,  and  marched  at  their  head  on  the 
Krgwe  path  to  the  shore,  where,  as  tradition  says,  he  prayed,  and 
the  sea  divided  and  he  went  into  it  with  them  aU.  They  may  have 
emigrated  back  to  the  East. 

The  Labades   refrained   Irom    cuttiug  olf  the  hand  of  Sowa,    but 

3* 


36  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

attacked  and  defeated  the  Ningowas  at  once,  causing  tliem  great 
loss.  Their  king  Afote  Okre  was  obliged  to  ask  Adshete  Ashabara 
of  Tema  to  assist  them.  General  Ashite  was  sent  to  Tema  and 
arranged  it  with  them,  and  the  lagoon  Sakumo  was  pawned.  Noete 
Yeboa  Afriyie,  the  chief  of  Osu  (Christiansborg),  being  related  to 
the  Ningowas,  prepared  to  assist  his  people.  The  second  engage- 
ment took  place,  when  king  Noete  was  prohibited  by  the  Governor 
of  Christiansborg  to  proceed  on  behalf  of  the  Ningowas.  He  was 
enraged  and  blew  himself  and  his  people  up  with  powder.  The 
Temas  could  not  do  much,  so  they  were  completely  defeated  and 
driven  from  the  country  to  Tong  (Little  Popo). 

After  peace  had  been  made,  the  Labades  removed  from  Podoku 
and  permanently  settled  and  built  the  town  La.  Their  friendship 
was  cemented  by  an  affinity.  Afote  married  Odole,  daughter  of 
Odoi  Akem,  he  also  gave  his  daughter  Apole  (Afole)  in  marriage 
to  the  latter,  and  the  lagoon  Kpeshi  was  given  as  a  wedding  gift 
to  Apole,  whose  descendants  in  Labade  have  the  right  to  the  lagoon; 
but  Odole  got  no  issue  in  Ningowa. 

Bote,  the  son  of  Bokete  Lawe,  was  trading  in  Krepe  when  the 
war  broke  out,  and  his  father  and  people  emigrated  to  the  East. 
Lala  Akotia,  another  son  of  Bokete  Lawe,  who,  after  his  father's 
retiring  from  Wodoku  had  removed  to  the  river  Sakumo  with 
numerous  refugees  from  Ningowa,  called  Bote  back,  and  the  pres- 
aent  Ningowa  town  was  founded  by  them.  It  was  very  large  at 
that  time,  but  the  majority  had  to  leave  it  for  the  East  on  account 
of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  whole  country.  The  village  Bote  Anno 
was  founded  by  that  Bote. 

After  the  conquest  and  expulsion  of  the  Ningowas  a  civil  war  broke 
out  among  the  Labades.  Odoi  Akem  was  the  king,  and  Numo 
Okang  Ngmashi  his  great  chief.  A  sister  of  Ngmashi  was  married 
to  one  of  the  king's  family ;  Ablo  Adshei  and  Akpo  Adshei  were 
her  sons.  These  princes,  proud  of  their  double  connection,  being 
half-brothers  to  the  king  and  nephews  of  the  great  chief  Ngmashi, 
often  insulted  and  quarrelled  with  their  half-brothers,  and  kept  the 
whole  town  in  constant  disturbance.  When  any  one  interfered 
with  the  amusement  of  the  princes,  he  was  sure  to  be  stabbed  by 
them  with  daggers  they  usually  carried  about  them.  Captain  Kwaw 
over  the  body-guard  of  their  uncle  always  took  up  their  quarrels 
and  fought  in  their  support.  At  last  they  removed  from  the  king's 
quarters  to  their  uncle's  and  settled  there  permanently. 


Chapter  III.  37 

A  daug-hter  of  the  chief  was  to  undergo  the  parental  public  wedd- 
ing ceremony,  a  custom  which  a  marriageable  girl  was  formerly 
bound  to  perform  before  the  usual  wedding  took  place.  The  girl 
was  to  perform  some  fetish  ceremonies,  during  which  time  her  hair 
was  platted  and  besmeared  with  either  powdered  camwood  or  other 
ingredients  according  to  the  tribe  she  belonged  to.  Being  simply 
dressed,  she  was  carried  on  shoulders  of  her  sex  and  accompanied 
by  her  uncle,  friends  and  relatives,  paraded  the  town  with  singing, 
dancing  and  feasting.  After  this  she  was  adorned  with  plenty  of 
gold,  precious  beads  and  fine  garments.  Then  she  was  to  alight 
at  the  gate  of  the  king;  some  rum  was  offered  to  the  princes  as 
a  libation,  after  which  she  was  put  on  the  shoulders  and  resumed 
the  parade.  But  the  proud  nephews  of  the  chief  ordered  their 
cousin  to  be  carried  by  men  instead  of  women,  and  on  reaching 
the  king's  gate,  the  bearer  did  not  let  her  down.  —  This  led  to  a 
quarrel  and  assault,  and  at  last  civil  war.  The  chief  being  power- 
ful, the  king  was  obliged  to  ask  assistance  from  the  king  at  Akra, 
and  sent  the  royal  necklace  of  precious  beads  to  him.  Who  being 
a  relative  to  Old  Ngmashi,  privately  advised  him  to  quit  the  town 
before  he  marched  there.  Ngmashi  accordingly  did  so  and  en- 
camped at  Ledshokuku,  and  so  the  war  ended.  Old  Ngmashi  was 
then  full  of  years,  and  his  son  Tshie  conducted  the  whole  affair, 
and  ordered  a  removal  to  a  small  fishing  cottage  belonging  to  Sa- 
sa  Kokoi  and  Koromante  Okai,  Fante  fishermen,  who  annually 
resorted  there  for  fishing.  Thus  the  town  of  Teshi  was  built.  A- 
shite  and  Kamoa  of  Lashibi  used  to  reside  with  the  Fante  fisher- 
men to  help  them  in  curing  fishes,  and  Old  Ngmashi  refusing  the 
title  of  king,  Kamoa  was  chosen  as  the  first  king  of  Teshi,  but  he, 
as  the  "mauklalo"  or  chief,  had  the  state  expenditure  on  his  shoul- 
ders, as  Kamoa  was  poor. 

The  people  of  Aneho  or  Little  Popo  are  by  some  supposed  to 
be  descendants  of  the  Fante  canoemen  employed  at  different  and 
remote  periods  on  the  Slave  Coast  by  several  European  slave- 
dealers.  Supposing  that  "anae"  in  the  Fante  language  means  "the 
west",  and  *'ho"  means  "place",  Aneho  would  be  "the  abode  of 
the  people  from  the  west".  Others  believe  that  the}'  were  emi- 
grants from  the  interior,  and  settled  on  the  coast.  The  cause  of 
their  emigration  was  this :  The  king  or  chief  of  Hedshirawe  in 
the  country  of  Ofra  had  died,  and  having  numerous  sons,  they  quar- 
relled  about    the   succession.     Obodai  Nyoiimo,    the  eldest  among 


38  History  of  the  Gold   Coast   and  Aeante. 

them,  had  alreadj  succeeded  his  father  as  king.  His  hrothers  com- 
bined against  him,  and  asked  the  king  of  Dahome  to  assist  them. 

About  the  year  1730,  Obodai  Njohmo  with  seven  captains,  his 
family,  his  family  fetish  "Egumaga'"  (which  was  carried  by  his 
sister  Anele  Koko),  his  royal  stool  and  a  large  amount  of  property, 
consisting  chiefly  of  precious  beads,  started  on  horseback  to  obtain 
assistance  against  his  opponents  from  the  king  of  Akra.  The  ancient 
prestige  of  the  Akra  emigrants  in  Popo  seemed,  at  this  period,  not 
lost,  but  their  power  had  become  weakened.  Hence  Obodai  did 
not  trouble  himself  by  asking  assistance  from  them,  but  proceeded 
directly  to  Akra.  He  lavished  presents  of  slaves  and  precious  beads 
on  every  chief  in  alliance  with  Akra,  during  his  march,  so  as  to 
obtain  their  unanimous  consent  to  assist  him.  But  very  unfortu- 
nately for  Obodai,  he  arrived  at  a  time  when  the  Akras  were  en- 
gaged in  a  fierce  contest  with  the  Akwamus.  At  Labade  he  was 
advised  by  the  king  to  stay  there  and  be  accompanied  over  to 
Akra.  He  was  cordially  received  by  the  king  of  Akra  and  was 
promised  the  desired  assistance  as  soon  as  the  Akwamu  war  should 
be  over.  He  joined  the  Akras  in  expelling  the  Akwamus,  but  the 
king  deferring  the  fulfilment  of  his  promise,  he  at  last  made  up 
his  mind  to  stay  permanently.  He  removed  from  Akra  to  Christians- 
borg,  where  the  site  which  Old  Lutterodt's  house  now  occupies 
was  given  to  him  and  his  people,  upon  which  a  nice  quarter  was 
built.  Obodai  became  a  favourite  of  the  Danish  Governor  then  in 
the  castle  of  Christiansborg;  his  people,  left  behind  at  Little  Popo, 
heard  of  his  staying  permanently,  and  sailed  in  a  trading  vessel 
to  Akra.  These  were  detained  by  the  king  of  James  Town;  Obo- 
dai tried  to  bring  them  over  to  Christiansborg,  but  failed;  hence 
the  two  families  of  Aneho  people  in  Akra  and  Christiansborg.  As 
Labade  was  Obodai's  first  residence,  he  married  one  Suoko  of  the 
place,  whose  children  becanie  his  successors. 

After  the  death  of  Obodai  Nyonrno,  his  son  Sodsha  Duamoro,  an 
intelligent  and  valiant  younger  brother  of  Togbg  and  Sai  Nj^anta, 
was  nominated  his  successor.  In  his  days  a  civil  war  broke  out 
between  him  and  chief  Noete  Adowi  of  Christiansborg  on  account 
of  a  broken  ship-mast  driven  to  shore  by  the  current  of  the  sea. 
It  seems  that  the  latter,  having  the  prerogative  over  that  part  of  the 
sea-shore,  claimed  the  mast,  although  it  was  seen  afloat  first  by 
the  Anehos,  they  being  close  to  the  beach,  and  on  that  account 
they  would    not   give  in.     Sodsha  removed  to  his  mother's  native 


Chapter  III.  39 

town  Lahade,  where  he  was  invested  with  the  dignity  of  chief  or 
nianklalo,  which  had  become  vacant  by  Ngmashi's  removal  to  Teshi. 
By  this  policy  the  Labades  constitutionally  bound  over  the  Anehys 
to  their  side  for  ever. 

The  Anehos  would  have  remained  in  Christiansborg,  if  that  dis- 
turbance had  not  taken  place,  and,  as  if  their  destiny  had  been 
there,  they  came  back,  at  least  in  part.  For  a  sister  or  cousin  of 
chief  Sodsha  Duamoro,  Nywenywerewa  was  kept  by  the  then 
Governor  of  Christiansborg  as  his  wife.  To  avoid  her  frequent 
visits  to  the  chief  at  Labade,  for  whom  she  had  a  tender  love,  the 
governor  offered  the  Anehos  a  piece  of  land  in  front  of  the  Castle, 
where  they  removed  and  permanently  settled.  The  stool  was  left 
in  Labade,  which  obliged  the  chief  to  spend  the  yearly  festivals 
there.  Thus  these  poor  emigrants  have  three  abodes,  a  part  is  at 
James  Town,  the  greater  portion  at  Christiansborg,  and  the  rest, 
with  the  stool,  at  Labade.  If  they  could  have  been  united  into  a 
single  town,  say  Christiansborg,  it  would  have  been  far  better  for 
both  themselves  and  those  into  whose  community  they  had  been 
received.  It  was  chiefly  through  these  separate  abodes  that  the 
Aneho  tribe  lost  their  former  power,  influence  and  glory  acquired 
principally  by  Sodsha  Duamoro  and  several  wealthy  persons.  Al- 
though respected  now-a-days  by  the  people  of  both  towns,  Osu  and 
La,  yet  their  influence  is  not  fully  felt  and  acknowledged  by  them 
as  formerly.  When  their  people  become  more  enlightened,  civilized 
and  christianized,  a  change  will  take  place. 

We  have  hitherto  traced  the  origin  o^  the  Ga  tribe,  taking  it 
for  granted  that  both  Ga  and  Adangnie  tribes  emigrated  together 
from  the  East.  We,  however,  at  the  conclusion  of  this  cha[>ter, 
insert  exclusively  the  origin  of  the  Adangme  tribe,  as  traditionally 
narrated. 

Same,  a  country  which  is  said  to  lie  between  two  rivers,  Efa 
and  Kpola,  near  River  Niger,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  former 
seat  of  the  Adanguie  tribes,  although  they  seem  to  have  come  from 
the  interior  to  that  place.  Impelled  b}^  continual  hostilities  with 
the  neighbouring  tribes,  ihej  quitted  the  place ;  leaving  Oyo  (in 
Ga:  Ayo)  on  the  north  and  Dahome  on  the  south,  they  travelled 
between  the  two  powerful  kingdoms,  and,  being  joined  hy  other 
tribes,  carried  all  before  them  and  settled  at  Hwatshi.  After  a 
short  stay  here,  they  resumed  their  march  to  Tuwg,  and  attacked 
several  tribes  on  their  way,  till  they  reached  the  plain  of  Tagologo 


40  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and   Asante. 

near  Lolovo.  Here  thej  began  to  separate  from  the  main  body. 
Akroyo,  sister  of  Manya,  the  king  of  the  Krobo  people,  resided  on 
the  Lashibi  island  now  known  as  Akrade.  Her  husband,  the  king 
of  La,  left  for  the  coast,  but  Manya,  desiring  to  settle  on  the  Krobo 
mountain,  left  the  Tagologo  plain,  and  being  followed  by  the  rest 
of  the  emigrants,  they  came  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  Akro- 
muase,  being  sent  by  Manya  to  survey  the  mountain,  was  satisfied, 
and  the  king  and  his  people  went  up  and  settled  there ;  hence  the 
name  of  the  place  as  "Kro"  and  the  inhabitants  "Kroli",  that  is, 
the  country  and  people  belonging  to  Akromuase.  The  tirst  town 
built  by  Manya  was  Mdnya,  after  which  Dodshe  (Manyayo),  Dome 
(Susui)  and  Bose  (Yilo)  were  built. 

As  these  emigrants  had  no  king,  but  every  tribe  had  its  own 
priest  or  headman,  they  found  it  very  easy  to  separate  from  the 
main  body,  and  so  dispersed  over  the  country.  A  portion  staj^ed 
at  Hwatshi  and  Tuwo,  another  portion  travelled  towards  the  south 
and  settled  at  Hume  and  different  places,  such  as  Noweyo  (Ana- 
yosi),  those  are  the  Osudoku  people;  others  went  to  Angula,  Ada 
and  Akra.  The  portion  which  separated  to  Lolovo,  a  place  between 
Shai  and  Osudoku,  who  were  afterwards  called  Ada  people,  seems 
to  have  had  four  principal  men  at  their  head,  viz.,  Adi,  Longmo, 
(Lorimo),  Tekpe  and  Dangme  (Dan me),  and  one  Tshayi  was  the 
priest  over  them.  The  names  of  those  headmen  have  ever  since 
been  attached  to  the  quarters  they  founded,  viz:  Adibiiawe,  Lo- 
nmobiiawe,  Tekpebiiawe  and  Danmebiiawe.  Biiawe  means  "chil- 
dren's home",  hence :  Adi's  children's  home,  Lonmo's  children's 
home,  &c. 

Manya  (Madsha)  is  said  to  have  expostulated  with  Tshayi  "why 
should  he  separate  from  him?"  but  he  did  not  listen  to  it.  Tra- 
dition says,  at  their  crossing  the  Volta,  which  was  but  a  small 
stream  at  that  time,  a  large  crocodile  was  found  lying  across  the 
stream,  forming  a  kind  of  bridge  for  them,  which  facilitated  their 
crossing.  On  account  of  this,  crocodiles  became  sacred  animals  for 
worship,  and  the  name  Ablao  was  given  to  the  crocodile-fetish. 
One  Apagbe  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  priest,  with  whom  the 
crocodile  dived  to  the  bottom  of  the  river  and  was  no  more  seen  ;  so 
his  son  Tshayi  succeeded  him  in  the  priesthood.  The  injunctions 
left  by  Apagbe  in  reference  to  the  crocodile-fetish,  which  the  emi- 
grants were  absolutely  bound  to  observe,  are :  Crocodile,  leopard, 
and    hyena  are  sacred  animals  which  must  never  be  killed;    gold 


Chapter  HI.  41 

and  ivory  must  not  be  touched,  neither  should  they  have  anything 
to  do  with  human  and  animal  blood. 

Hitherto  this  portion  of  the  emigrants  had  no  distinctive  name, 
till  the  hunter  Kole,  priest  of  the  fetish  Libi  (salt)  of  Tekp^biiawe, 
happily  discovered  a  large  forest  and  the  lagoon  Shongo  (Sono)  in 
one  of  his  hunting  excursions.  Koi,  the  then  ruling  priest  of  the 
fetish  LalO  of  Adibiiawe,  was  informed  by  Kole  of  his  discovery. 
The  emigrants  thereupon  removed  from  Lolovo  and  made  a  per- 
manent settlement  in  the  forest,  which  gave  the  name  ^^Kglehue", 
i.e.  Kole's  forest,  to  the  place,  and  ''Kgleli"  to  the  emigrants,  in  mem- 
ory of  the  discoverer's  name.  Kolehue  has  been  corrupted  into  Okohue, 
and  Koleli,  into  Okoli.  Another  name  by  which  they  were  called 
at  first,  as  it  seems  a  nickname,  hence  not  much  in  use  at  that 
time,  is,  Adragbimili  or  Adragbimitsheme.  This  is  said  to  have 
been  given  them  when  Manya  was  expostulating  with  Tshayi  on 
the  event  of  separation.  Manya  said,  "you  can  separate  from  us, 
but  never  from  our  common  dialect",  hence  they  were  called,  sep- 
arators of  dialect  or  Adragbimili.  The  derivation,  however,  of  the 
word  Ada  is  variously  explained.  Some  say,  after  repeated  remo- 
vals of  this  tribe  from  place  to  place  in  consequence  of  incessant 
invasions,  from  Okohue  to  Okghmloku,  thence  to  Togbloku  and 
Fo  &c.,  when  having  settled  permanently  on  the  bank  of  the  Volta, 
they  said  one  to  another  "Wadahe",  that  is,  we  have  been  scattered 
miserably  about. 

We  suppose  rather  that  Qda  or  Ada  is  the  name  given  to  this 
place  by  king  Firempong  after  the  name  of  his  capital  Da  or  Oda. 
When  the  Akwamus  were  expelled  from  this  side  of  the  Volta, 
Firempong  is  said  to  have  appointed  one  of  his  own  captains,  and 
another  captain  of  the  Kamana  refugees  then  at  the  place,  with  a 
body  of  armed  men,  and  stationed  them  there,  with  strict  injunctions 
to  protect  the  boundary  from  Akwamu  invasions.  The  descendants 
of  those  captains  composed  the  Kabiiawe  (Kabubiiawe)  quarter,  viz., 
Kabiiaweyum  of  the  Kamana  refugees,  who  had  settled  there  long 
before,  as  shall  be  seen  hereafter,  and  Kabiiawetshu,  of  the  other 
captain. 

The  Adas  were  still  at  Okohue  vs^hen  the  Kamana  refugees  arri- 
ved, and  before  they  were  admitted  to  join  them,  a  fence  was  made 
at  the  outskirt  of  the  town,  where  they  were  kept  until  every  male 
among  them  was  circumcised.  It  was  not  very  long  after  this 
Kanuina  ,tribe  had   been  naturalised  an  Adaunie  tribe   by  the  rite 


42  History   of  the   Gold  Coast  and   Asante. 

of  circumcision,  when  the  Akwamus  came  with  force  to  claim  thenj 
back.  This  led  to  a  long  obstinate  war,  until  the  known  Akwamu 
stratagem  was  practised,  the  right  thumb  of  their  brave  general 
Tshaji  of  Tekpebiiawe  being  cut  off  through  Akwamu  treachery. 
The  old  venerable  general  defended  himself  and  his  ungrateful  people 
for  a  long  time,  and  then  quitted  the  country.  His  son  Amana 
was  appointed  general  instead  of  his  father,  and  it  was  he  who 
proposed  surveying  the  country  to  tind  a  suitable  place  for  an  a- 
sylum  against  future  invasions  of  the  Akwamus.  Accompanied  by 
his  nephew  Okumo  of  Daiimebiiawe,  he  discovered  the  land  be- 
tween Okohue  and  the  Volta.  The  uncle  claimed  all  that  part  of 
land  from  Okohue  to  the  seven  date-palms  near  Fo  as  his  portion, 
and  the  land  from  that  spot  to  the  mouth  of  the  Volta  was  given 
to  the  nephew.  Thus  the  two  quarters  of  Tekpebiiawe  and  Daiime- 
biiawg  got  the  prerogative  over  the  whole  land. 

There  are  other  small  families,  besides  those  already  mentioned, 
who  emigrated  afterwards  from  different  places  and  settled  in  Ada. 
At  Okonmloku,  one  Loi'imowe,  a  hunter  of  Lonmobiiawe,  discovered 
lake  Ngsho  or  Nyito,  abounding  in  fish  and  frequented  by  game. 
Here  he  was  met  by  a  hunter  from  Agrave,  by  name  Ahaviatshe. 
A  dispute  arose  between  the  two  hunters  as  to  the  ownershij*  of 
the  lake.  The  Ada-man,  being  cunning,  proposed  to  decide  the  case 
by  either  of  them  gettiug  fire  from  his  town  first  to  the  spot.  The 
town  nearer  to  the  lake  would  claim  the  ownership.  Both  started 
to  fetch  fire.  Lonmowe  prudently  obtained  fire  by  concussion  of 
his  fire-arm,  and  before  Ahaviatshe  could  return  with  fire,  he  had 
cooked  a  dish,  ate,  and  left  some  for  him.  The  ownership  being 
thus  proved,  Ahaviatshe  became  a  friend  to  Lonmowe,  and  through 
them  general  friendship  grew  up  between  the  Adas  and  the  people 
of  Agrave.  A  piece  of  land  was  consequently  granted  to  the  Adas, 
on  which  the  present  town  Ada  was  built,  on  the  bank  of  the  Volta. 
Ahaviatshe  then  proposed  removing  to  reside  with  his  friends,  who 
were  known  generally  to  be  unfortunate  people,  being  often  inva- 
ded, which  caused  them  to  wander  about.  Ahaviatshe  was  told  by 
his  friends,  who  opposed  his  removal,  "You  go  to  traSe  only  in 
death",  hence  the  Kudshragbe  quarter  got  its  name.  —  Ohwewem 
is  another  quarter,  emigrants  from  Whenyi;  Kogbg,  from  Kpele  in 
Krepe  land;  Kponkpo  is  a  portion  of  Kggbo;  the  Sega  family  are  the 
Le  refugees  from  Poni ;  the  Gbese  family  from  Osudoku ;  and  the 
Kpony  family  were  refugees  from  Ningowa*.     The  Adas   are  com- 


Chapter  IV  43 

posed  of  11  (12V)  families,  viz.,  Adibiiawe,  Lonmobiiawe,  Tekpe- 
biiawe,  (Danmebiiawe?)  Kabubiiawe  or  Kabiiawe,  Kudshragbe, 
Ohweweni,  Kogbo,  Kponkpd,  Sega,  Gb^se  and  Kpoiuj.  The  ruling 
family  was  in  Adibiiawe  quarter,  and  the  first  king  was  Boi.  Ow- 
ing to  more  attention  paid  to  agriculture  and  fishery  by  the  royal 
family,  the  two  Tshi  families  of  Kabiiawe,  who  are  traders  and  have 
the  wit  for  ruling  and  settling  cases,  got  the  ruling  power  through 
the  following  incident.  Ado  somewhat  neglected  the  old  King  Bgi, 
his  father,  in  old  age,  and  the  old  man  being  properly  attended 
by  his  nephew  Dake  of  Kabiiawe,  the  stool  was  bequeathed  to  him. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Emigratiou  and  settlements  of  the  Tshi  tribes  in  the  interior. —  Awirade 
Basa  and  his  first  kingdom  in  Adanse. —  Dankera,  the  first  powerful  state 
among  the  Tshi  tribes,  and  the  wars  of  Owusn  Bore. —  The  formation 
of  the  kingdom  of  Amanse  known  as  the  kingdom  of  Asante.  —  Its  in- 
vasion by  Ntim  and  the  destruction  of  the  kingdom  of  Dankera  by 
Osei  Tutu.     About  1500—1700. 

All  the  different  Tshi  tribes,  as  already  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  seem  to  have  been  driven  by  the  Moors  from 
Central  Africa,  and  settled  first  between  the  Kong  (Kpong)  moun- 
tains and  the  River  Pra. 

Enumerating  those  tribes  or  districts,  we  shall  in  the  first  place 
take  Amanse.  Amaii-ase  means  the  origin  or  foundation  of  the 
people,  where  they  seem  to  have  emigrated  to,  and  then  dispersed 
over  the  country.  It  was  a  district  between  Kumase  and  Adanse. 
A  large  portion  of  them  separated  and  settled  at  Adan-ase  (Bosman 
calls  this  district  "Ananse");  which  also  means  the  foundation  of 
the  buildings  i.e.  the  building  of  the  Tshi  nation.  The  next  district 
was  Asen,  i.e.  wanseri,  which  means,  numerically  surpassing  the 
site  they  then  occupied  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Pra.  North  of 
Amanse  was  the  Of e so*)  district  and  that  of  Takiman.    Kwa- 


*)  Tradition  says,  Ofeso  and  Adweso  and  Mpgnoa  districts  were  founded 
by  Osei  Tutus  contrivance.  There  was  a  noble  woman  of  the  Asona 
family  at  Abegue  in  Adanse,  who  removed  to  Apimkrawa  with  her 
two  daughters,   Dwum^and  Aso.     A foro  Bent w inland  Berifi  Kwatia  were 


44  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

bire  and  Osekyere  districts  lie  N.E.  of  Amanse,  and  Mpyiioa 
and  Nsiinoa  districts  on  their  S.,  O  do  mar  a  and  Atshuma 
districts  on  the  N.W.  of  Amanse,  Dampong  (i.e.  the  big-  building) 
or  Asante  Akem  on  the  East,  having  Okwawu  on  its  N.  The 
district  of  Dank  era  (i.e.  dan  kyekyerewa  =  small,  wretched  build- 
ing) and  Tshuforo  tribes  crossed  the  River  Ofe  and  settled  in  the 
S.W.  The  districts  of  Safwi  on  the  W.,  and  Par  am  a  (Wasa), 
Dwabo,  Maraso,  and  Tannofo,  all  not  proper  Tshi  tribes,  N. 
of  Dankera.  The  Akem  tribe  crossed  the  Pra  and  settled  in  Akem. 
Adanse  was  the  first  seat  of  the  Akan  nation,  as  they  say 
by  tradition :  there  God  first  commenced  with  the  creation  of  the 
world.*)  They  were  the  enlightened  tribe  among  the  Tshi  nation, 
from  whom  the  rest  acquired  wisdom  and  knowledge;  there  the 
first  Tshi  ruler  or  king  by  the  name  Awirade  Basa**)  began  to 
establish  his  power  over  the  other  emigrants.  His  powerful  lin- 
guist was  Okwawe  Nfrafo,  through  whose  means  he  exercised  his 
power;  hence  the  proverb,  ^'Yekasa  Nfrafo,  nso  yene  Awirade" 
i.e.  We  complain  against  Nfrafo,  we  mean,  however,  the  king  him- 
self. It  appears,  when  Awirade  was  establishing  his  power  over 
the  people  to  form  the  kingdom,  his  subjects  complained  against 
his  treatment.  Fearing  to  mention  his  name,  all  was  said  against 
the  linguist.  We  do  not  know  his  successors,  but  there  was  one 
Abu,    who  seems   to  have  been  one  of  the  kings  of  Adanse,   who 


sons  of  the  former,  likewise  were  Aboagye  Agyei,  Burum  Ankama  and 
his  sister  Ampobeng,  children  of  the  latter.  Before  Osei  Tutu  declared 
war  against  the  king  of  Adanse,  he  had  taken  Ampobeng  as  a  con- 
cubine. To  weaken  the  power  of  the  Adanse  king  as  well  as  to  save 
himself  from  future  combined  efforts  of  those  powerful  princes,  he  cunning- 
ly advised  his  friend  Ampobeng  to  induce  her  cousin  and  brother  to 
quit  Adanse  ere  the  intended  war  was  declared.  By  his  orders  Aforo 
Bentwia  with  his  forces  went  to  Ofeso  and  established  his  state  there, 
likewise  went  Aboagye  Agyei  and  Burum  Ankama  to  Adweso  and  Mpo- 
noa.  After  Osei  Tutu  had  conquered  the  Adanses,  he  added  those  chiefs 
and  their  forces  to  his  army. 

*)  The  expression  "bo  ade,  to  create  (consolidate)  the  things"  may  refer 
to  the  beginnings  not  only  of  the  world,   but  also  of  a  state.  Chr. 

**)  Awirade  (or  awurade)  means  "lord".  Another  tradition  says  that 
one  Opohkobere  of  Akrokyere  was  the  first  king  of  Adanse,  and  that 
his  successors  were,  Obeng  Adebge,  Dwapanyin  Afadi  (who  made  several 
gold  horns),  Obirifo  Kumamua  and  Antvvi  Sampa,  that  all  of  them 
were  captured  respectively  in  wars  with  Asante,  and  that  Avvirade  Basa 
was  an   influential  prince  and   no   king. 


Chapter  TV.  45 

instituted  the  order  of  family  among  the  Tshis;  hence  lineage  is 
designated  "abusfia"  i.e.  imitating  Abu.  As  the  power  of  the  Adanse 
kings  was  acquired  by  enlightenment  and  also  by  the  fame  of  their 
fetish  Bona  at  Akrykyere,  but  not  by  war,  it  did  not  last  long, 
neither  was  it  very  glorious,  till  they  were  conquered  by  the 
Dankeras.  All  the  principal  districts  or  tribes  mentioned  above 
were  independent  and  had  their  respective  chiefs  over  them. 

Dankera*)  was  the  district  of  which  Bosman  says,  ''This  country, 
formerly  restrained  to  a  small  compass  of  land  and  containing  but 
an  inconsiderable  number  of  inhabitants,  is,  by  their  valour,  so 
improved  in  power,  that  they  are  respected  and  honoured  by  all 
the  neighbouring  nations,  all  of  which  they  have  taught  to  fear 
them,  except  Asiante  and  Akim."  Their  tributary  countries  then 
were  Wasa,  Enkase,  and  Tshuforo.  By  trade  and  plunder  they 
grew  very  rich  and  powerful.  They  became  so  arrogant  that  they 
looked  upon  all  other  nations  with  contempt,  esteeming  them  no 
more  than  slaves,  and  on  that  account  they  were  disliked. 

Nothing  particular  is  known  about  the  first  king  of  Dankera, 
Bomoreti,  and  his  successor,  Okarawilni  Apaw.  The  third  sovereign 
was  Owusu  Bore,  who  grew  very  rich  and  powerful,  and  made 
shields  of  gold  and  gold-hilted  swords.  Obenpong  Akrofi,  the  king 
of  Tshuforo  Atoam,  died  during  his  days,  and  after  the  funeral 
custom  was  over,  Owusu  claimed  from  the  estate  two  twin  brothers 
with  their  300  retainers  as  his  share.  Asiedu  Apenteng,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Akrofi,  refused  to  comply,  and  consequently  war  broke 
out.  Floats  were  made  by  the  Dankera  army  to  cross  the  Pra. 
During  the  heat  of  action,  the  Tshuforos  removed  these  floats,  and 
being  disappointed  when  falling  back,  the  Dankeras  were  defeated, 
and  the  original  ivory  stool  (throne)  was  drowned  and  lost.  Owusu 
became  so  uneasy  for  the  loss,  that  he  slept  on  palm-branches, 
hence  their  oath  ''Dankera  berewso",  Dankera  palm-leaves. 

Asiedu  Apenteng,  having  been  slain  in  the  war,  was  succeeded 
by  Ofosuhene  Apenteng.  He  was  obliged  to  remove  from  Tshuforo 
Atoam  to  Ahuren,   a  place  near  Kokofu    and  Dadease.    This  tribe 


'^)  Oaukera  was  a  tributary  state  of  Adanse,  and  became  independent 
after  a  sharp  conflict  in  the  reign  of  Akafo  Obiaka.  A  loan  of  money 
was  advanced  to  the  Adanses,  and  Awirade  Basa  became  security  for 
the  amount.  Prince  (Jti,  the  son  of  Akafo,  was  sent  to  demand  the 
amount,  and  was  disgracefully  treated  by  Awirade  Basa  by  cutting  off 
his  long  beard ;  hence  the   war. 


46  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

continued  wandering  to  ditferent  places,  owing  to  the  incessant  in- 
vasions of  the  Asantes,  till  they  finally  settled  in  the  Akem  country, 
with  the  name  Akem  Kotoku,  as  we  shall  find  hereafter. 

The  warlike  Owusu  Bore  again  declared  war  against  Ansa  Sa- 
sraku  of  Tshuforo  proper,  who  seemed  unwilling  to  submit  to  him. 
Ansa  was  defeated  and  compelled  to  flee  for  shelter  to  Asamah- 
kese,  which  afterwards  became  the  capital  of  the  Akwanm  kings. 
As  a  sign  of  his  unwillingness  to  serve  him,  Ansa  gave  orders  to 
beat  a  certain  drum  "perempe"  i.e.  ^'I  wouldn't  serve  one  like  you". 
As  Owusu  was  bent  upon  war,  he  found  fault  with  Oburum  An- 
kama  I.,  king  of  Safwi,  for  not  having  assisted  him  against  Ansa. 
He  thereupon  invaded  his  country',  defeated  him,  and  carried  off 
large  amounts  of  gold  in  barrels  and  palm-leaf  baskets  to  Dankera. 
.  Abrimoro,  the  king  of  Parama,  also  fell  a  prey  to  Owusu,  which 
caused  him  to  flee  through  Safwi  forest  and  settle  in  Wasa. 

The  fourth  king  of  Dankera  was  Akafo,  whose  surname  is  Obiaka, 
which  means  "there  is  one  more  yet".  The  royal  family  did  not 
expect  there  would  be  a  powerful  king  after  the  demise  of  the  3 
last  sovereigns.  He  instituted  the  kwadwom,  a  song  expressive 
of  sorrow  or  heroism  of  the  ancients,  delivered  in  a  dramatic 
manner  by  a  number  of  virgins  trained  for  the  purpose. —  Dankera 
Kyei  was  the  fifth  king.  He  instituted  the  harem  for  kings,  brought 
in  all  his  wives  there,  and  set  eunuchs  and  guards  about  tliem. 
He  also  increased  the  number  of  the  fan-  and  horsetail-bearers,  who 
used  to  fan  him  and  drive  away  flies  from  him  when  sitting  in 
public.  Amoako  Ata  I.  succeeded  him.  He  also  made  several  sym- 
bols of  gold,  all  amounted  to  1000:  some  on  state  umbrellas,  on 
swords  &c.  He  made  2  gold  stools  and  12  gold-headed  state-canes 
for  linguists;  even  on  his  drums  and  tympanum  was  gold. 

After  the  death  of  Amoako  Ata  I.,  Asare  or  Boa  Pomsem  ascen- 
ded the  stool  of  Dankera.  His  mother's  name  was  Aberewa  Ku- 
kusi,  so  called  for  wearing  too  many  jewels.  Akoabena  Bensua 
was  her  daughter.  It  was  this  Asare  Pomsem  who  invented  play- 
ing on  the  tambourine,  i.e.  a  skin  stretched  over  the  upper  open- 
ing of  a  large  calabash,  which  sounds  in  beating,  pomsem,  p5m- 
sem,  hence  his  name. 

Having  come  so  far  with  the  kingdom  of  Dankera,  we  turn  now 
to  another  district  which  also  had  in  the  meanwhile  acquired  power. 
It  was  that  district  of  Amanse,  of  which  Bosman  says,  "all  the 
neighbouring    nations    had    been    taught    to    fear    Dankera,    except 


Chapter  IV.  47 

Asiante  and  Akim."  The  district  of  Amaiise  comprised  these  prin- 
cipal towns,  viz.,  Asumenya  Santemaiiso,  Dwabenma,  Booman, 
Adwampong,  Bekwae,  Amoafo  Pompoiig,  Aduiiiai,  Asaneso,  Da- 
nj^aase,  Adankranya,  Amoagja  and  Ahuren.  The  first  king-  of  this 
district,  Kwabia  Ahwanifi,  resided  at  Asumenja  Santeiiianso.  All 
we  know  of  him  is,  that  in  his  days  gold  was  not  known,  the 
currency  was  pieces  of  iron.  After  his  death  Oti  Akenteug  as- 
cended the  stool.  He  made  war  with  the  king  of  Kwadane  at  tlie 
place  where  Kumase  was  afterwards  built,  and  captured  Dareboy. 
At  that  time  the  Amanse  people  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing 
that  place,  and  desired  to  remove  there;  but  they  were  told  that 
it  belonged  to  Kwaku  Dompo,  the  king  of  Tafo.  Oti  Akenteng 
was  intending  to  remove  tliere,  when  he  was  overtaken  by  death, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Obiri  Yeboa  Manwu.  He  removed  first  to 
Kokofu,  and,  after  staying  there  awhile,  negotiated  with  king  Kwaku 
Dompo,  and  obtaining  his  consent,  he  and  his  chiefs  emigrated  there. 
As  king  Obiri  Yeboa  had  emigrated  back  towards  the  north  into 
the  district  of  Kwabire  and  settled  between  Makom,  Tafo  and  U- 
domara,  he  was  obliged  to  enter  into  friendly  communications  with 
the  kings  there.  He  sent  compliments  to  Akosa  of  Makom  and 
Kusi  of  Odomara;  after  this  the  boundaries  between  these  three 
kings  were  shown  to  him,  and  then  he  prepared  a  site  for  his 
town.  Under  a  tree  known  as  Okiim  near  Odenkyemmanaso  or 
Crocodile-pool,  close  to  the  town  of  Akosa,  he  founded  the  capital, 
and  named  it  Okiim-ase  i.e.  under  the  okiim-tree.  The  capital  having 
been  founded,  the  headmen  of  the  Oyokos,  cliiefly,  the  Akoonas,  a 
family  to  which  the  king  belonged,  viz.,  Duabodee  of  Kanyarase, 
Kagya  Panyin  of  Mamponten,  Kwaw  Panyin  ofFaobaware,  Antwi 
of  Sawua,  and  Nyama  of  Saman,  built  tlieir  towns  around  the  capi- 
tal. Ankra  was  the  chief  of  this  Oyoko  family ;  but  Gyamin  and 
Afriyie  were  left  in  charge  of  Kokofu. 

Now  the  confederate  kings  or  chiefs  of  Amanse  were  obliged  to 
emigrate  to  where  the  capital  had  been  founded.  Adakwa  Yiadgm 
of  Dwabenma  removed  and  settled  near  Boama  Kokoboate,  the 
king  of  Pianyirase,  and  founded  Dwaben.  Tlie  other  king  of  that 
district  was  Ntiamoa  Mankuo  of  Abooso.  Tweneboa  Kotia  of  Ko- 
mawu,  an  ally  of  the  Amanse  king,  staid  where  he  was.  Agyin 
of  Boman  founded  Nsuta  (by  the  chief  of  BeposoV).  Maniampon  I. 
of  Pompon  founded  Mampon,  but  Egu  Ayeboafo  of  Bekwai  stayed 
where   he    was.     It    appears   that  lie  was   left  there  on  purpose  to 


48  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

protect  the  frontier  against  any  invasion  of  the  Daukeras.  Tlius 
the  confederate  Amanse  chiefs  fortified  their  kingdom,  which  after- 
wards became  the  universally  famed  and  dreaded  Asante  kingdom.*) 

When  Obiri  Yeboa  was  at  Kokofu,  his  sister  Mann  was  married 
to  chief  Owusu  Panyin  of  Aberenkese,  having  no  issue.  After  a 
long  time,  the  fame  of  the  fetish  Otutu  in  Berekuso  reached  them. 
Messengers  were  despatched  to  Ansa  Sasraku,  the  king  of  Akwamu, 
to  assist  that  some  medicine  might  be  obtained  from  that  fetish  to 
administer  to  the  only  sister  of  Yeboa.  Their  request  was  granted, 
Manu  conceived  and  a  boy  was  born,  to  whom  the  name  ot  the 
fetish  "Tutu  or  Otutu"  was  given.  Others  have  the  opinion  that 
Manu  came  there  in  person  and  was  married  to  Kwadwo  Wusu, 
nephew  of  Ansa  Sasraku.  If  she  came  to  Berekuso  at  all,  her  hus- 
band Owusu  Panyin  may  have  accompanied  her,  and  when  she 
had  conceived,  they  returned  home.  This  prince  became  the  illus- 
trious Osei  Tutu  of  Asante.  When  his  uncle  Obiri  Yeboa  removed 
from  Kokofu,  his  son  Afriyie  was  left  there. 

The  connection  between  Dankera  and  Asante  is  traceable  from 
this  fact,  that  Usei  Tutu,  the  nephew  of  king  Obiri  Yeboa,  was 
employed  as  a  shield-bearer  of  Boa  Pomsem.  This  shows  that  the 
connection  was  somewhat  tributary,  as  the  custom  with  the  Tshis 
is,  that  all  tributary  kings  have  their  nephews  in  the  king's  ser- 
vice, as  horsetail-,  fan-  and  shield-bearers.  At  all  events,  this  is 
certain  that  the  Dankera  king  was  superior  to  the  Asante  king, 
superior  in  power  as  well  as  in  glory,  and  Usei  Tutu  may  have 
been  sent  there  to  study  the  politics  of  the  Dankeras. 

Tradition  says  that  Akoabena  Bensua,  the  only  sister  of  Boa 
Pomsem,  had  no  issue,  and  Okymfo  Anokye,  the  far-famed  fetish 
priest  of  Awukugua  in  Akuapem,  who  was  full  of  magic  powers, 
was  invited  to  Dankera  by  the  king,  to  try  his  best  that  his  sister 
might  be  fruitful.  Anokye  predicted  that  he  could  manage  that  a 
single  son  could  be  born,  but  that  this  prince  would  be  the  ruin 
of  the  Dankera  kingdom.    The  reply  to  this  was,  that  the  Dankera 


*)  On  account  of  this  amalgamation  or  confederation,  the  kingdom  of 
Asante  was  nicknamed  "Nhweadan  (Ahweadah)"  i.e.  Sand-house,  Sandy 
Palace.  And  it  proved  to  be  true ;  because  since  the  British  army  en- 
tered Kumase  in  1874,  the  king's  palace,  mystically  representing  the 
sandy  kingdom,  alone  was  touched  by  Lord  Wolseley,  yet  the  whole 
kingdom  has  gradually  given  way,  Dwaben,  Adanse,  Kokofu,  Nsuta 
and  Marapong  have  split  from  the  sandy  building. 


Chapter  IV.  49 

arm}'  amounted  to  300,000  men  ;  if  tlie  prince  squandered  the  whole 
proj.erty  of  tiie  kinodom,  and  if  one  third  of  this  army  were  lost, 
with  the  two  thirds  he  could  hold  on ;  he  must  do  his  best  to  get 
a  male  child  born."  This  case  strengthens  what  the  Asantes  say 
about  Ntim,  as  being  the  son  of  prince  Osei  Tutu.  For  Tshi  prin- 
cesses are  known  generally  as  loose  characters,  especially  as  AkO- 
abena  Bensua  and  her  brother  were  yevy  anxious  of  obtaining  a 
nephew  as  his  successor. 

Prince  Osei  Tutu  privately  administered  the  fetish  Ekumasua  to 
Akoabena,  that  she  must  never  be  known  any  longer  to  her  hus- 
band but  himself.  This  being  so,  she  was  found  to  be  in  the  fam- 
ily way,  and  there  and  then  she  advised  Tutu  to  effect  his  escape 
from  Dankera  as  speedily  as  possible,  because  the  husband  was 
urging  confession  from  her.  He  escaped  with  two  servants  and 
was  pursued  by  armed  men.  The  river  Ofe  being  so  overllown 
that  they  could  not  cross  it,  one  of  his  men  hanged  himself  on 
seeing  the  pursuers;  but  Tutu  and  the  other  concealed  themselves 
in  a  hole  of  an  armadillo.  The  pursuers,  finding  the  river  too 
swollen  for  any  one  to  cross,  and  not  discovering  the  fugitives,  re- 
turned home.  The  Ofe  subsiding  the  following  day,  both  Tutu  and 
his  servant  crossed  and  safely  reached  Kumase.  In  memory  of 
this  escape  in  the  hole  of  an  armadillo,  Osei  Tutu  named  one  of 
his  sons:  Para  (armadillo).  His  uncle  Obiri  Yeboa  advised  him 
to  seek  refuge  in  Akwamu;  this  fact  proves  the  superiority  of  the 
Dankeras  over  the  Asantes  at  that  time.  Ansa  hearing  of  the  arrival 
of  a  good  looking  Asante  prince  in  one  of  his  towns,  invited  him 
to  his  house.  His  bold  and  majestic  nppearance  as  well  as  his  per- 
sonnl  beauty  attracted  Ansa's  love,  that  he  there  and  then  took 
him  to  be  his  male-consort.  It  is  fashionable  with  the  Tshi  kings 
that  any  woman,  to  whom  they  take  a  fancy,  becomes  a  wife  of 
the  king.  With  a  male  person  in  a  sin)ilar  case  a  connection  is 
formed  of  tender  love,  estimation  and  protection.  On  account  of 
this  love  shown  to  the  Asante  prince,  all  the  monarchs  of  Akwamu 
considered  the  kings  of  Asante  as  their  male-consorts.  Prince  Osei 
Tutu  had  the  opportunity  of  acquiring  the  politics  of  the  two  prin- 
cipal powers  then  existing,  Dankera  and  Akwamu.  Meanwhile  A- 
koabena  Bensua  was  delivered  of  a  male  child  who  was  named 
Ntim.  While  Tutu  was  staying  at  Akwamu,  his  uncle  Obiri  Yeboa 
was  busily  engaged  in  acquiring  power  over  the  numerous  tribes 
among  whom  he  had  established   his  capital.     Disputes  with  Kusi, 

4 


50  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

king-  of  Odoinara,  about  the  boundary  of  the  land,  brought  on  a 
war  in  which  Obiri  Yeboa  was  slain,  although  the  Asantes  pretend 
that  he  got  sick  in  camp  and  died. 

This  sudden  death  of  the  king  obliged  the  Asante  nobles  to  re- 
call their  fugitive  prince.  Ansa,  to  protect  his  male-consort,  appoint- 
ed Anum  Asamoa,  the  chief  of  the  Anum  people,  then  residing  at 
Nsawam,  with  700  armed  men  to  escort  him  home.  These  Anum 
people  became  the  Adums  in  Kumase;  because  thej^  did  not  return 
back  to  Akwamu.  A  piece  of  the  skin  from  the  elbow  of  an  ele- 
phant presented  to  him  by  a  hunter,  as  well  as  the  head  of  a  king- 
fisher similarly  obtained,  Osei  Tutu  worked  into  a  crown  on  his 
way  to  Kumase.  Tradition  says  that  he  obtained  a  large  amount 
of  amnuniition  from  the  Danish  Government  on  credit,  which  he 
secured  by  giving  some  of  his  people,  whom  he  redeemed  after- 
wards *),  on  account  of  which  he  was  surnamed  Yeboa  Afriyie. 
At  the  head  of  the  700  armed  Anums  and  with  that  curious  crown, 
he  appeared  in  Kumase,  and  was  proclaimed  king  of  Asante.  With 
his  advent  a  new  era  began  in  the  history  of  the  Asantes.  For 
the  royal  stool  of  the  kingdom  was  constructed  at  this  time  by 
Okomfo  Anokye,  who  seems  to  have  removed  from  Dankera  to 
Kumase,  having  become  acquainted  with  prince  Osgi  Tutu  during 
his  stay  in  Dankera.  That  the  monarchs  of  Asante  trace  their 
lineage  from  Etwum  and  Antwi,  wliom  they  consider  as  their  an- 
cestors, comes  from  the  tender  care  those  two  chiefs  of  Kokofu 
bestowed  on  their  grandson  Tutu  when  a  child,  but  not  that  they 
were  kings  of  Asante. 

Qsei  Tutu,  having  prepared  to  revenge  his  late  uncle's  death, 
declared  war  against  Odomara  Kusi,  whom  he  completely  conquer- 
ed. The  refugees  escaped  to  Awosu,  where  the  king  of  the  place 
asked  them  the  cause  of  their  ilight  and  the  circumstances  connect- 
ed with  it.  They  told  him,  but  as  they  were  not  willing  to  return 
to  Udomara,  the  king  gave  the  name  "Gyaoman",  "you  have  de- 
serted your  country",  to  those  refugees.  Those  not  willing  to  leave 
their  country  staid  and  built  Abesem,  Berekum,  Odomase  &c.  and 
became  tributary  to  Asante.  Kyereme  Sikafoo  was  appointed  by 
Osei  Tutu  as  the  king  over  them,  and  became  liis  Busumru.  The 
kingdom  of  Gj^aman   was  established   by  the  contrivance  of  those 

*)  Ashaute-blohfin,  the  quarter  in  Cliristiansborg,  probably  got  its 
name  from  those  Asante  sureties  residing  with  Ngete,  the  chief  of 
that  quarter. 


Chapter  IV.  51 

Odomara  refuoees  on  the  territory  of  the  Mohammedans  from  Kong. 
They  built  Bontuku  as  its  capital. 

The  next  king  against  whom  Osei  Tutu  declared  war  was  Makom 
Akosa.  He  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  his  nepiiew  Aduamensa 
was  appointed  his  successor  by  Osei  Tutu.  He  formed  an  intimate 
friendship  with  Aduamensa,  to  whom  he  gave  his  sister  Nyako 
Kusiamoa  in  marriage,  and  Opoku  Ware  was  born.  But  Bafo,  the 
brother  of  the  late  Akosa,  left  the  country  quietly  and  emigrated 
to  Takiman,  and  sought  an  asylum  with  the  great  king  Amo  Yaw. 
Bafo  was  ordered  by  the  king  to  stay  in  a  village  where  only  three 
old  men  were  residing,  which  became  afterwards  the  town  and 
district  of  Nkoransa  i.e.  Nkwakora  mmiensa,  three  old  men. 

Upon  witnessing  all  these  troubles  brought  on  the  aboriginal 
race  of  that  district  by  mere  foreigners,  Osafo  Akotong,  the  king 
of  Tafo,  gave  orders  to  blow  a  horn  "Osei  Tutu,  sore  ho-o  twa !" 
which  means:  ''Get  away  from  the  place,  you  Osei  Tutu!"  Because 
they  were  taking  undue  advantage  of  the  land  as  well  as  the  fish 
in  the  Nsuben,  which  are  strictly  forbidden  to  be  eaten.  Irritated 
by  this  horn,  Osei  Tutu  declared  war  against  Osafo,  whom  he 
utterly  defeated  and  captured  liis  big  drums,  tympanum,  gold  guitar 
&c.  as  well  as  a  whole  district  of  100  towns.  After  this  conquest 
the  king  fell  sick  and  was  dying,  when  he  was  advised  by  Okomfo 
Anokye  to  propitiate  Osafo  for  the  injury  done  to  him.  The  latter 
agreed  on  condition  that  the  king  should  promise  upon  an  oath 
that  he  would  never  kill  any  of  his  family.  The  oath  was  admin- 
istered to  his  sister  Nyako  Kusiamoa,  by  virtue  of  whicli  no  one 
of  the  town  of  Akyena-kurom  has  ever  since  been  subjected  to 
the  executioner's  knife  of  Asante.  This  being  done,  the  king  got 
well  again,  and  henceforth  the  iish  in  Nsuben  were  strictly  forbidden 
to  be  eaten,  but  were  rather  fed  with  the  bodies  of  executed  criminals. 

The  fourth  war  was  declared  against  King  Wiafe  Akenteng  of 
Ofeso.  He  was  beaten  and  conquered.  Thus  the  whole  district 
formerly  belonging  to  the  Odgmaras,  Atshumas  and  Kwabiris  &c. 
became  the  property  of  Osei  Tutu. 

Tlie  policy  then  adopted  by  the  king,  which  became  tjie  national 
law,  strictly  observed  by  all  his  successors  on  pain  of  death,  was  — 
the  naturalization  of  the  conquered  provinces  with  all  due  rights 
as  citizens.  Whoever  dares  tell  his  son:  these  people  were  from 
such  and  such  a  place,  conquered  and  translocated  to  this  or  that 
town,  was  sure  to  pay  for  it  with  his  life.    Neither  were  such  people 

4* 


52  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

themselves  allowed  to  say  where  they  had  been  transported  from. 
Considering-  these  captives  as  real  citizens,  any  rank  or  honor  was 
conferred  freely  on  them  according  to  merit,  but  not  otherwise. 
This  made  the  people  of  the  kingdom  so  united  and  therefore  very 
powerful,  that,  what  Bosman  says,  '"except  Asiante  and  Akim,  who 
are  3^et  stronger  than  Dankera  at  the  time  of  Ntim",  can  be  un- 
derstood. 

Ntim  Gyakari,  the  youthful  son  of  Osei  Tutu,  ascended  the  stool 
of  Dankera  after  the  demise  of  his  uncle  Asare  Pomsem.  One  of 
Ntim's  wives  was  Rerebere,  who  having  been  married  over  three 
years  without  issue,  enquired  tlie  cause  of  it  from  her  fetish  Bona 
at  Akrokyere  in  Adanse.  The  oracle  obtained  was  "she  must  come 
in  person  and  would  conceive".  This  being  the  oracle,  Ntin)  grant- 
ed permission  and  appointed  Obeng  Antwi,  the  chamberlain,  nephew 
of  Bonsra,  to  escort  her  with  300  armed  men  to  the  place.  For 
her  personal  expense  she  got  3  peredwans  and  30  sheep.  Fortj^ 
days  were  spent  at  Akrokyere  to  undergo  all  the  ceremonies  re- 
quired ;  but  Berebere  expressed  a  desire  to  visit  Bonsra.  As  she  stay- 
ed there  another  40  days,  the  king  became  uneasy  and  ordered  his 
nephew  and  Berebere  to  return  home.  But  to  his  great  surprise, 
she  was  in  the  family  way  from  his  nephew.  Her  words  were  a 
thunder-clap  to  the  old  king.  "Alas,  my  nephew,  he  said,  thou  hast 
ruined  us !"  He  forthwith  called  for  two  of  his  chiefs,  Kwaku 
Dwamara  of  E'omiina  and  Apeanin  Kwafaramoa  Woyiawonyin  of 
Abuakwa  Atshumamanso,  and  told  them  the  sad  story.  Three 
messengers  were  then  and  there  despatched  to  Dankera  to  inform 
Ntim  through  the  linguist  Safe  and  the  Queen  mother  Bensua,  what 
folly  Antwi  had  wrought  in  Adanse.  Safe  was  immediatel}^  order- 
ed to  proceed  to  Adanse  with  the  messengers,  with  the  injunction 
to  bring  back  the  unfortunate  Berebere  alive,  but  the  criminal  An- 
twi and  his  relations  must  be  done  away  with.  Thirty-two  persons 
were  slaughtered  that  day  at  Ayewase,  among  whom  was  Obeng 
Antwi  and  his  parents.  Queen  Abuwa,  on  hearing  what  the  by- 
standers said  against  Antwi  for  having  brought  calamity  into  the 
country,  replied  "Berebere  amma  a,  amane  mma"  i.e.  Had  Berebere 
not  come,  no  trouble  would  have  come.  The  bystanders  then  echoed 
"Enye  obi  na  okum  Antwi",  Nobody  is  to  blame,  but  Antwi  who 
killed  himself.  King  Bonsra  and  his  chiefs  are  said  to  have  emi- 
grated to  Akem  on  account  of  this  case.  Of  32  towns  only  few 
were  left  in  Adanse.     Berebere  was  brouoht  to  Danlcera  and  was 


Chaptei-  IV  53 

put  on  a  block,  and  Ntim  beiii^-  satisfied  with  the  conduct  of  the 
Adanses  who  stayed,  ordered  Safe  to  thank  them,  saying:  "Se  wo- 
reso  susurape  na  oliahini  to  mu  a,  wuyi  no  kyene,  na  wowe  wo 
susurape"  =  When  you  catch  flying-  ants  and  the  large  black  ant 
(emitting  a  bad  smell)  falls  among  them,  yon  put  the  latter  aside 
and  eat  the  Hying  ants. 

Ntim  may  have  been  either  told  of  the  past  event,  or  was  so 
jealous  of  the  rapid  growth  of  the  power  of  Osei  Tutu  or  the  in- 
fluence he  had  gained  over  the  Adanses,  that  he  desi)atched  three 
ambassadors,  a  shield-bearer,  sword-bearer,  and  a  courl-crier,  with 
a  large  brass-pan  to  Kumase,  saying,  ^'The  kingof  Asante  and  his 
chiefs  must  fill  up  the  brass-pan  with  pure  gold,  and  must  send 
each  the  favourite  among  his  wives  and  their  mothers  to  Dankera 
to  become  his  wives ;  besides,  their  wives  must  supply  his  wives 
with  *''mposae"  =  dry  fibres  of  the  plantain -tree  to  use  during 
their  monthly  courses."'  Osei  Tutu  summoned  all  his  great  chiefs 
to  appear  in  the  capital,  and  a  grand  meeting  was  held  at  Ape- 
booso.  There  were  present  Adakwa  Yiadgin,  Nsuta  Agy'm,  Twene- 
boa  Kotia,  Maniampong,  Amankwatia  Panyin,  general  of  the  Ko- 
ronti  force,  Asafo  Awere,  general  of  the  Akwamu  force,  with  the 
ca[>tains  of  his  body-guard.  The  Dankera  ambassadors  repeated  their 
message  in  the  audience  of  the  assembly,  and  the  reply  to  it  was  blows 
given  first  by  Yiadoni  and  then  the  other  chiefs.  Instead  of  gold, 
they  filled  up  the  brass-pan  with  stones,  and  sent  the  ambassadors 
bleeding  home  without  the  brass-pan.  It  is  kept  as  a  trojjhy  in 
Kumase.  This  foolish  demand  of  Ntim  could  hardlj^  1)0  believed; 
but  when  Bosman  says,  ^'Dinkira,  elevated  hy  its  great  riches  and 
power,  became  so  arrogant,  that  it  looked  on  all  other  negroes  with 
contempt,  esteeming  them  no  more  than  its  slaves,"  no  one  will 
doubt  the  veracity  of  this  statement.  It  took  Ntim  three  months 
to  [irepare  against  the  Asantcs.  He  formed  an  alliance  with  the 
Dutch  Government,  by  whom  he  was  supplied  with  arms  and  am- 
munition, two  cannon  and  some  grenades  and  iron  mails.  He  also 
succeeded  in  persuading  Ofori  Korobong,  the  king  of  Dampong, 
another  powerful  sovereign,  who  had  hitherto  been  jealous  of  the 
prosperity  of  Dankera,  to  join  him  against  Osei  Tutu,  The  Dam- 
pong  royal  family  were  of  the  same  stock  of  the  Agona  family 
group  with  the  Dankeras.  Dampong,  the  capital  of  this  tribe,  is 
said  to  have  been  so  large,  that  no  large  bird  could  fly  through  it 
without  fallint!,'  to  the  uround. 


54  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

The  generals  conimandirig  his  overwhelming  army  were  Kwame 
Tebi,  over  the  van;  Kwadwo  Wiafe,  the  right  wing;  Kwaku  Butu- 
akwa,  the  left  wing;  Kwasi  Pipira,  the  rear,  and  Asiama  Tia,  the 
l)ody-guard.  Bnt  Boa  Kropa,  the  most  powerful  chief  of  Ntim^  is  said 
to  have  refrained  from  joining  them,  on  account  of  a  quarrel  which 
took  place  between  them.  The  chief  was  demanding  satisfaction 
from  the  king  for  an  illegal  connection  with  one  of  his  wives.  Ntim 
replied,  "I  discharge  my  stool  into  your  gun !"  His  allies  were  of 
Wasa,  Safwi  Bekwai,  Safwi  Ahweaso,  Tshuforo,  &c.  A  large  bundle 
of  a  certain  plant  was  placed  on  the  path  the  warriors  had  to  march, 
which  being  cut  asunder  by  the  tread  of  their  feet,  Ntim  was  satis- 
fied with  the  number  of  warriors,  and  then  commanded  the  rest 
to  return  home. 

Since  the  three  ambassadors  had  been  beaten  and  shamefully 
sent  back  to  Dankera,  Qsei  Tutu  with  his  chiefs  were  busily  en- 
gaged in  preparing  against  Ntim's  invasion,  as  they  knew  very 
well  what  would  be  the  consequence.  The  king  sent  to  the  coast 
to  buy  arms  and  ammunition  in  great  quantities.  Bosman  says, 
"The  Dinkiras  being  foolish  enough  to  assist  him  themselves,  suf- 
fered his  subjects  to  pass  with  it  uninterrupted  through  their  country, 
notwithstanding  they  knew  very  well,  it  was  only  designed  for 
their  destruction".  Okomfo  Anokye  also  was  actively  engaged  in 
offering  sacrifices  and  preparing  war  medicines  against  his  old 
enemies,  who  ill-treated  him  w^hen  residing  there.  Tradition  says, 
that  one  of  the  princes,  Anim  Kokobo,  and  the  king  himself,  then 
not  on  the  stool,  deprived  him  of  some  of  his  wives.  He  gave 
orders  to  search  for  a  special  medicine  plant  growing  only  in  Dwa- 
ben,  where  the  Asantes  were  fortunate  enough  to  find  it.  From 
this  plant  sacred  water  was  prepared  for  the  chiefs  to  wash  with, 
and  some  to  drink.  The  one  who  drank  the  last  medicine  was  to 
be  a  victim  in  the  impending  war  to  ensue  success.  After  his  fall, 
Ntim  would  be  slain  and  his  kingdom  destroyed.  None  of  the 
great  chiefs  dared  to  accept  the  medicine,  till  Tweneboa  Kotia 
willingly  took  and  drank  it,  offering  his  life  for  the  good  of  his 
country,  on  condition,  however,  that  none  of  his  offspring  should 
ever  be  subjected  to  the  executioner's  knife,  whatever  his  crime 
might  1)6,  when  once  the  Asante  empire  was  established. 

The  commanders  of  the  Asante  army  were:  Aduenin  Pim  of  A- 
duaben,  over  the  van;  Maniampon  of  Mampon,  Egu  Ayeboafo  of  Be- 
kwai, Wiafe  Akenteng,  EsumdwumaTanl,  over  the  right  wing;  Twe- 


Cliapter   IV.  55 

neboa  Kotia,  Okvvawu  Diavvuo,  Osafo  Akotong,  over  the  left  wing; 
Amankwatia  I'anyin,  general  of  the  Koronti,  Asafo  Awere,  general 
of  the  Akwamu;  Saman  Nantvvi  and  Okrakose,  captains  over  the 
body-guard;  Osaben  Odiawuo  (tiic  son  of  Obiri  Yeboa),  Qkra  Domsc, 
Okra  Pomsem,  Ansere  Tani  and  Safe,  over  the  rear;  Nsuta  Agvin, 
general  of  the  left  flank  of  the  van,  and  Adakwa  Yiadom,  general 
of  the  right  flank  of  the  van.  Agyeinsam,  the  king  of  Kohyia  in 
Asen,  was  at  that  time  in  Kumase  on  account  of  their  annihilation 
by  the  Dankeras  in  1697.  He  also  joined,  hence  the  Asantes  never 
undertake  any  war,  unless  an  Aseu  chief  be  among  them.  King 
Ansa  Sasraku  of  Akwamu  sent  general  Gyarantwi  with  a  force  to 
assist  the  Asantes.  At  that  time  the  army  of  Asante  was  reckoned 
at  60,000  men,  and  Osei  Tutu  encamped  with  his  forces  at  Adunku. 
Ntim,  hearing  of  that,  was  very  eager  of  hastening  his  march  to 
attack  them.  He  played  and  sang  the  whole  night,  when  that  news 
reached  him,  "Dabi  a  medu  Adunku,  meda",  I  shall  sleep  soundly 
on  the  day  I  come  to  Adunku.  Krakose  was  sent  by  Osei  Tutu 
to  ask  Ntim,  whether  he  meant  war;  if  so,  one  of  his  fingers  must 
be  cut  off;  and  Ntim  did  so.  This  special  messenger  had  all  his 
thumbs  and  fingers  cut  off  in  that  way,  and  at  last  one  finger  only 
left  on  both  hands. 

The  overwhelming  army  of  Ntim  reached  Adunku  and  gave  battle 
to  the  Asantes,  who  kept  him  at  bay  for  three  days  before  they 
were  forced  to  fall  back.  Some  believe  that  the  war  lasted  two 
years ;  but  the  bloody  battles  were  fought  at  Abooten,  Putuagya, 
and  Feyiase.  Ntim's  van  of  1000  picked  men  in  iron  mails,  with 
the  drummer  of  the  Kwantempong  (a  small  drum  placed  in  the 
armpit  in  beating)  at  its  head,  did  much  harm  to  the  Asantes  in 
every  engagement.  The  chiefs  asked  Anokye,  how  is  it?  But  he 
requested  them  to  hold  on  till  he  could  have  him  by  magic.  He 
had  prophesied  that  Ntim  was  to  fall  at  Feyiase,  where,  after  three 
days  engagement,  Tweneboa  Kotia  fell,  which  was  the  predicted 
signal  of  victory,  when  Asiama  Tia  and  Safe  surrendered  to  the 
Asantes.  Asiama  Tia  was  fighting  most  gallantly,  when  one  asked 
him,  "why  do  you  trouble  yourself  so  much  for  one  like  Ntim, 
who  has  just  this  moment  beheaded  your  nephew,  his  aid-de-camp, 
and  3^our  wife,  who  once  absconded,  is  among  his  wives  in  the 
harem?"  The  cause  of  the  nephew's  beheading  was,  that  once, 
when  the  Dankeras  were  victorious,  the  king  painted  his  right 
arm  with  white   clay.     The  aid-de-camj),  sharing  his  joy,   painted 


56  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante 

his  arm,  as  the  king-  did,  hence  his  death  !  Asiauia  hastened  to 
the  camp  and  found  tlie  report  to  be  true.  On  account  of  the  de- 
sertion of  these  principal  men,  the  Dankeras  were  defeated  and  com- 
pletely conquered. 

Ntim  being  found  sitting  leisurely  with  one  of  his  wives  at  a 
certain  game,  amusing  themselves,  having  shackled  their  feet  in 
golden  fetters,  Adakwa  Yiadom  came  upon  him  suddenly  and  gave 
him  a  stroke  with  his  sword,  which  he  received  on  the  valuable 
gold  bracelet  he  had  on  his  wrist,  which  was  taken  by  Akosa  of 
Edwampon  and  given  to  Adakwa.  The  stroke  was  repeated;  the 
king  was  killed  and  his  head  cut  off.  It  is  chiefly  through  this 
bracelet  captured  by  Yiadom  that  the  Dwabens  obtained  the  [pre- 
rogative of  placing  a  king  on  the  stool  of  Kumase,  on  which  oc- 
casion the  king  of  Dwaben  is  required  to  place  that  sign  of  power 
three  times  on  the  wrist  of  the  new  sovereign.  The  estimate  of 
the  killed  was  said  to  be  about  100,000  besides  the  loss  of  30,000 
Akems  who  came  to  their  assistance.  Their  king  Ofori  Korobon 
was  lost  with  all  his  body-guard.  The  Asantes  were  15  days  in 
plundering  Dankera,  and  took  thousands  of  prisoners  and  a  large 
amount  of  gold.  The  one  who  placed  the  king  on  the  stool  was 
the  chief  of  Wono,  now  called  Gyamaase. 

Among  the  slain  on  the  Asante  side  was  Obiri  Yeboa's  son  O- 
saben  Odiawuo,  Tweneboa  Kotia  and  Nsuase  Poku.  Safe  was  fa- 
voured to  succeed  the  latter,  while  Asiama  Tia  was  disgracefully 
killed.  They  had  sworn  not  to  kill  him,  yet  a  public  hole  was 
dug,  in  which  he  was  placed,  his  arms  pinioned  behind  him,  and 
people  were  ordered  to  go  to  privy  upon  him,  which  has  given 
rise  to  a  conventional  expression  in  Kumase,  "Mekoma  Asiama 
akye,"  I  am  going  to  say  good  morning  to  Asiama.*)  The  cannon 
captured  are  now  a  trophy  in  Kumase.    Other  advantages  accrued 


*)  The  most  ignominious  punishment  inflicted  on  Asiama  Tia,  appears 
most  barbarous,  cruel,  and  a  breach  of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Asantes, 
who  got  the  advantage  of  the  day  by  the  general's  desertion  of  Ntim. 
But  at  a  closer  examination  it  appears  that  the  Asantes  did  justice  and 
established  their  power  by  righteousness.  For,  before  the  execution  of 
that  disgraceful  sentence,  a  court  had  been  held,  when  Asiama  was  char- 
ged with  high  treason.  "You,  as  a  general,  ought  to  have  done  your 
duty  to  your  king  and  nation,  and  settled  any  differences  existing  be- 
tween yourself  and  the  king  at  home,  but  never  have  acted  so  treach- 
erously as  you  have  done.  You  have  made  us  gain  the  victory,  yet 
justice  must  be  done  for  a  memorial   to  the  world," 


Chapter  IV.  57 

from  this  conquest,  one  ot  which  was  the  monthly  [laj-notc  of  the 
Dutch  Government  to  the  king  for  Elmina  Castle,  which  became 
a  penjuisitc  of  the  victor  till  the  year  1872,  when  St.  George  d'El- 
mina  with  the  Dutch  possessions  were  transferred  to  the  English 
Government.  Dankera  having  become  a  tributary  state  after  the 
concjucst,  Ohuagyewa,  a  lame  princess,  was  placed  on  the  stool  by 
the  victor.  (Others  believe  that  prince  Roadu  Akafo  succeeded 
Ntim.)  The  debt  contracted  by  Ntim  with  the  Dutch  in  making 
war  is  said  to  have  been  paid  by  <Jsei  Tutu,  an  amount  of  1000 
percdwans. 

(Jkomfo  Anokye  was  richly  rewarded  by  the  chiefs  for  his  good 
services.  The  king  gave  him  300  slaves,  100  peredwans,  and  a 
large  gold  ring  for  the  arm;  he  made  him  a  principal  chief  with 
seven  horns,  one  big  drum,  a  state  umbrella  and  four  hilted  gold 
swords,  and  appointed  him  to  a  command  in  the  van  of  the  army. 
He  received  100  slaves  and  30  peredwans  from  Maniampon;  Okyere 
Rrafo,  the  successor  of  Tweneboa  Kotia,  gave  100  slaves  and  20 
peredwans;  Oduro  Panyin  100  slaves  and  20  peredvvans,  and  Nsante- 
fu  the  same.  Rut  Adakwa  Yiadom  is  said  to  have  refused  giving 
him  anything;  hence  a  curse  was  pronounced  against  him,  that  no 
glory  should  ever  attend  any  undertaking  of  his,  when  acting  in- 
dependently of  Kumase,  whilst  conjunctly  with  them,  ho  should  be 
more  glorious.  Out  of  this  number  of  slaves,  the  priest  formed 
the  Agona  district  in  Asante. 

We  insert  the  tbllowing  as  different  opinions  or  statements  about 
the  war.  Some  say,  what  led  to  the  war  and  conse(|uently  the 
overthrow  of  the  power  of  Dankera  by  the  Asantes  was,  that  A- 
koabena  Rensua,  the  motlier  of  Ntim,  was  once  very  sick.  There 
was  a  certain  tribe  called  the  Rgntwumafo,  now  Atwomafo,  i.e.  red 
clay  [teople,  originally  slaves,  doomed  by  the  law  of  the  country 
to  the  most  barbarous  slaughter  when  any  roj^al  personage  died. 
At  such  times  the  unfortunate  Atwoma  people  were  sacrificed  by 
hundreds  and  their  blood  used  as  the  red  clay  in  painting  some 
l»arts  of  the  body  of  tlie  deceased  as  well  as  persons  of  the  royal 
family,  and  some  of  their  dead  bodies  placed  in  the  grave  on  which 
the  cofrtn  was  laid.  Ntim  had  a  wife  from  this  tribe,  who  informed 
her  people  concerning  the  state  of  Rensua's  health.  j^They  prepared 
to  quit  the  country,  as  soon  as  they  should  hear  of  her  death.  She 
was  there  on  a  visit  to  her  relations,  when  that  sad  intelligence 
reached  them.     The  whole  tribe  now  (led  for  protection  to  the  A- 


58  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

santcs.  The  kinj^  sent  for  his  wife  and  subjects,  but  they  refused 
to  go  back,  which  of  course  broke  the  peace  between  Dankera  and 
her  tributary  state. 

The  Asantes  on  that  account  stayed  away  from  the  funeral.  The 
king-,  after  the  custom  was  over,  sent  an  embassy  with  a  large 
brass-pan,  with  a  positive  injunction  to  fill  up  the  brass-pan  with 
pure  gold,  and  also  to  demand  from  every  chief  the  favourite  among 
his  wives,  wearing  each  a  necklace  of  precious  beads,  who  should 
become  his  wives  in  place  of  the  one  escaped  to  Asante. 

Mr.  Hosman  and  other  authors  say,  that  the  youthful  sovereign 
Bosiante  was  treated  as  the  equal  and  friend  of  the  great  Osei 
Tutu;  that  the  king  of  Dankera  despatched  an  embassy  in  1719  to 
the  court  of  Kumase,  consisting  of  the  most  black  and  comelj^  of 
the  ladies  of  his  harem,  and  that  the  deputation  was  treated  with 
courtesy  by  the  monarch,  who  determined  to  despatch  some  of  his 
ladies  to  Dankera  to  return  the  compliment.  One  of  these  dark 
beauties  captivated  the  heart  of  the  king  of  Dankera,  who  was  not 
proof  against  the  temptation.  The  lady  returned  disgraced  to  Kum- 
ase, and  Osei  Tutu  determined  to  blot  out  his  disgrace  in  blood 
t^c.  These  statements  do  not  appear  to  be  true,  and  we  retain  our 
opinion,  knowing  that  Mr.  Bosnian  speaks  of  his  government  having 
despatched  an  officer  to  the  camp  to  ascertain  the  truth  about  the 
war,  which  he  was  unable  to  know  when  he  wrote  his  letter  VI. 
page  74 — 77. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Of  the  kingdoms  of  Akwamu  and  Akem. —  The  tlourishing  state  of  the 
Akras  on  the  coast. —  Oduro  Tibo's  war  with  Nyako  Kwaku. —  War 
declared  by  Osei  Tntu  against  Akeni,  and  his  death. — ■  Akonno's  in- 
vasion of  Akra  and  the  neighbouring  tribes.     About  1530 — 1730. 

Having  treated  of  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Asante  from  its 
commencement  to  the  reign  of  Osei  Tutu,  who  aggrandized  it  to 
the  highest  pitch,  we  shall  in  this  chapter  take  up  two  other  Tshi 
tribes,  viz.,  the  Akwamu  and  Akem  kingdoms. 

Of  the  former,  we  have  obtained  two  accounts,  one  historical  by 
Romer,  which  is  already  given  in  chapter  II,  and  the  other  tradi- 
tional, in  chapter  IV.    Prince  Akwamu,  after  staying  with  the  kings 


Chapter  V.  59 

of  Akra,  obtained  a  i)iece  of  land,  upon  which  ho  fonndcd  his  town 
and  state  at  the  Akem-Peak  (Nyanaw-ase).  Ansa  Sasrakn  of  Tshu- 
foro  proper,  being  expelled  by  Ownsu  Bore,  also  settled  at  Asa- 
inankese.  To  reconcile  these  two  accounts,  we  say,  both  statements 
are  truthful.  Akwainu,  being  a  native  of  either  Tshuforo  or  Adanse, 
who  had  already  founded  his  own  state  before  the  arrival  of  Ansa 
Sasrakn,  and  both  being  Tshi  princes,  they  may  have  managed  to 
unite  in  forming  the  kingdom  known  as  the  kingdom  of  Akwamu, 
pre-eminejjce  being  given  in  naming  it  by  the  name  of  the  tirst 
settler. 

It  was  the  habit  of  the  Tshi  emigrants  from  the  interior,  to  ex- 
tend their  power  and  conquest  into  the  territories  of  the  aboriginal 
race  on  the  sea-coast.  It  is  but  natural  that  the  state  of  Akwa- 
mu was  very  small  indeed  at  the  commencement,  at  which  time 
the  Guan  tribes  of  Agona  on  the  west,  the  Bereku  (Obutu)  and 
Anum  tribes  on  the  south,  and  the  Guan  tribes  of  Akuapem  on 
the  east  were  all  under  the  king  of  Akra;  and  that  Tshi  state  was 
not  excluded.  For  by  tradition  we  are  told,  that  in  every  yearly 
grand  feast  of  the  Akra  king,  the  chiefs  of  Obutu  and  Akwamu  were 
his  hammock-carriers,  or,  at  an}^  rate,  the  chiefs  over  these  carriers. 
To  prove  that  the  Akwamus  were  under  the  king,  is  very  easy. 
How  came  it  that  the  Akwamu  prince  Odci  was  in  the  king's  ser- 
vice, as  Osei  Tutu  in  that  of  Owusu  Bore?  Yet  those  princes  of 
the  tributary  states  sent  to  the  capitals  as  horsetail-bearers  or  shield- 
bearers,  and  to  study  politics,  generally  became  a  plague  to  the 
kingdom.  For  instance,  Osei  Tutu  in  Dankera;  it  was  he  that  de- 
stroyed that  kingdom ;  Kwadwo  Tibo  was  similarly  employed  in 
Kumase,  and  was  the  cause  of  its  destruction;  Odei  at  Okai-Koi's 
court  became  the  cause  of  the  ruin  of  the  Akra  kingdom. 

With  the  general  aptitude  of  the  Tshi  princes  for  acquiring  power, 
the  kings  of  Akv^'amu  by  war  and  plunder  easily  managed  to  ex- 
tend their  dominion  over  the  surrounding  tribes.  About  1530  and 
in  1680,  after  expelling  the  Akras  from  the  country  and  usurping 
their  territory,  they  became  the  third,  if  not  the  second,  powerful 
kingdom  on  the  Gold  Coast.  (We  incline  to  say  the  second,  because 
theirs  commenced  just  after  that  of  the  Akras;  Dankera  must  there- 
fore be  the  third,  yet  co-existent  with  that  of  Akwamu;  Asante 
the  fourth  power.)  Bosman  says  of  them,  'The  Akwamu  negroes 
are  very  haughty,  arrogant  and  warlike;  their  power  is  very  terrible 
to  all  neighbouring  countries  except  Akini.    The  nations  under  their 


60  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

power  are  miserably  tormented  with  daily  pluiiderini;-  or  rather 
robbing'  visits."  One  of  their  kings  he  describes  as  "of  an  al)iect 
temper  and  an  inveterate  enemy  to  the  Europeans,  and  though  he 
received  from  the  English,  Danes,  and  us  an  ounce  of  gold  monthly, 
in  recognition  of  the  liberty  given  us  by  his  predecessors  to  build 
in  his  dominions,  yet  he  horribly  plagued  us,  and  that  in  so  un- 
reasonable a  manner,  that  if  he  did  but  fancy  any  one  of  us  had 
injured  him,  he  was  sure  to  oblige  us  all  three  to  satisfaction,  by 
shutting  the  passes  so  closely,  that  not  so  much  as  a  single  mer- 
chant (native)  could  get  to  us."  The  kingdom  was  desi)Otic,  and 
the  king  and  his  nobles,  says  Bosnian,  ''are  so  rich  in  gold  and 
slaves,  that  I  am  of  opinion,  this  country  singly  possesses  greater 
treasures  than  all  those  kings  we  hitherto  described  on  the  Gold 
Coast  taken  together." 

Akem  (Akycm,  from  hkyene,  salt),  a  name  given  to  the  country 
by  the  Asantcs  for  being  supplied  with  salt  by  the  peo[)le.  Bos- 
man  says,  "Akim  was  already  strong  when  Dankera  improved  in 
power".  The  aboriginal  races  seem  to  have  been  of  the  Fomana 
and  Kamana  tribes.  Towns  under  the  former  were  Kyiriahi,  Bebc, 
Siana,  Gyamase,  Supruso,  Otweredruase,  Pepease,  Kwafoben,  0- 
kwakuw  (Akroakwaw),  Werewaso,  Kukurapo,  Sonkyeremaso,  Amoa, 
Amuanna,  Werenkyemadu,  Asona,  Otapupuase.  Oku  Panj^in  of  the 
Aberetufo  family  was  their  king.  Likewise  was  Kotokg,  king  of 
Begoro,  over  the  Kamana  tribe,  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  parent 
tribe  of  the  Akwamu  people.  Indeed,  when  the  government  of  the 
latter  was  established  at  the  Akem-Peak,  most  of  their  towns,  such 
as,  Asamankese,  Akotia,  Otiriampa,  Yobo,  Soabe,  Kgde,  Subi,  Kwae, 
Gyatia,  Banka,  Osemdu,  Ntronan,  Morowanan,  Tafo,  Mmeso,  Asafo, 
Seym,  Koko,  Pram-kese,  Trahyew  and  Anyinasin,  were  under  the 
king  of  Akwamu,  till  the  Adanse  peo[)le  began  to  emigrate  there, 
at  which  period  they  became  known  as  a  powerful  kingdom. 

In  the  enumeration  of  the  Tshi  tribes,  we  mentioned  that  of  A- 
sante-Akem.  Danso  Birempong  and  chief  Gyambra  Amanu  ofTshu- 
foro-Atoam,  settling  among  this  tribe,  formed  a  very  powerful  state, 
whose  king  in  conjunction  with  the  one  in  Akem-Abuakwa  joined 
the  Dankeras  in  their  invasion  of  Asante.  It  was  about  one  of  the 
kings  or  caboceers  of  this  state,  that  we  read  in  Bosnian,  "besides, 
a  great  caboceer  of  Akim  with  all  his  men  were  cut  off."  That 
caboceer  may  be  Ofori  Korgbon  or  Firempong  I.,  whose  skull  de- 
corates the  king's  drum  in  Kumase. 


Chapter  V.  61 

The  emigration  of  tlie  chiefs  of  Adaiise  to  Akem  commenced  at 
a  remote  period,  and  continues  even  to  the  present  day.  There 
was  one  Agyemang  Musu  or  Aboagye  Agyemang  of  Mamponten 
in  Adanse,  vvlio  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  emigrant  chief  and 
settled  at  Okakom  (Okakum)  in  Akem.  The  phice  got  its  name 
from  tlie  abolishing  of  Aboagye's  way  of  dealing  with  his  debtors. 
When  a  loan  of  money  had  been  given  by  him  to  any  one,  whether 
paid  or  not  paid,  the  borrower  had  to  pay  a  similar  sum  everj^ 
year.  This  being  abolished,  the  place  was  called  Okakum,  killing 
of  debt,  i.e.  when  the  ca}»ital  money  is  paid  with  interest,  it  is 
liquidated  for  ever. 

Even  before  the  emigration  of  Agyemang  Musu  to  Akem,  there 
was  a  noble  lady,  called  Boa,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
emigrant  from  Adanse  and  had  settled  at  Ahwenease.  After  whose 
arrival  the  two  powerful  kings,  Danso  Birempong,  the  king  of  Ko- 
toku,  from  Adanse  Adomannu,  and  Ofori  Panyin,  the  king  of  Abua- 
kwa,  from  Adanse  Kubeante  Sebereso,  emigrated  together  to  Akem. 
The  jiredecessors  of  the  former  were  Yarawere,  the  first  king  of 
the  Kotokus,  and  Boadi  Nanim,  who  had  died  at  Adanse.  When 
Danso  Birempong  emigrated,  his  relative,  chief  Gyambra  Amanu 
of  Tshuforo  Atoam,  joined  him  with  his  people.  They  settled  first 
at  Ahuren,  then  at  Bomfa,  and  crossing  the  river  Anun  they  settled 
at  Kotoku,  from  which  place  the  emigrants  got  the  name  Kotoku 
up  to  the  present  day,  *)  Ofori  Panyin  also  with  his  people  first 
settled  at  Abrakaso,  then  at  Adweso,  and  at  last  at  Banso. 

After  these,  Abu  Bonsra,  the  king  of  Adanse,  and  two  of  his 
great  chiefs,   Kwaku  Dwamara  and  Apeanin  Kwafaramoa  Woyia- 

*)  Tradition  says,  that  a  civil  war  broke  out  once  between  Anipong 
Agyei  of  Tgkoboba  and  Osei  Afweree  of  Dwaben.  (Tliis  appears  to 
be  different  from  that  between  Atakora  ]\[aniampong  and  Akuamoa 
Panyin.)  The  chief  of  Mampong  assisted  his  brother  Ampong  Ag)  ese ; 
they  were,  however,  defeated  by  Osei  Afvveree ;  Ampong  Agyei  was 
driven  to  Okwawu,  but  his  brother  built  Mampong,  which  unfortunately 
had  been  again  destroyed  by  the  Kumase  people.  One  of  the  kings  of 
Kotoku,  either  Danso  Birempong  or  Firerapong  Manso,  had  settled  at 
the  place  formerly;  therefore  prince  Kwatai  was  commissioned  to  ask 
submission  from  Ampong  Agyei,  which  he  refused.  He  was  thereupon 
engaged  by  the  prince  and  driven  to  Abetifi.  Another  nephew  of  Danso 
Birempong,  prince  Tititi,  repeated  the  demand  of  submission  ;  but  Agyei 
again  refusing,  he  was  engaged  and  driven  to  Okwawu  Dukuma  (Duko- 
mau),  where  tlie  Okwawns  stayed  for  some  years,  and  longed  for  home 
to   enjoy   their   palm- wine   and  palm-nuts.     Very  fortunately  Eseu  Kagya 


62  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

wonyin  with  their  people,  fled  when  Berebere's  case  happened. 
Bonsra  settled  at  Anj^eem,  Kwaku  Dwamara  at  Ahomaso,  and 
Kwafaramoa  at  Akropong.  The  third  emigration  was  made  by 
Anim  Kwatia  of  Adanse  Gyambibi.  These  emigrants  acquired  power 
in  Akeni,  and  made  war  with  the  Kamana  people,  whose  king  was 
Kwaw  Kotoko,  then  residing  at  Begoro.  This  war  was  caused 
by  an  elephant's  tusk  picked  up  by  one  of  the  emigrants  when 
searching  for  snails.  The  Kamana  people  claimed  it  for  their  king, 
which  the  other  party  would  not  submit  to,  and  so  chief  Dako  of 
Sinno  on  the  Abuakwa  side,  and  Sumtin  Okwawerefi  on  the  Koto- 
ku  side  were  appointed  to  march  against  them.  The  Kamanas 
were  defeated  and  expelled  to  Gyakiti,  where  they  founded  the 
following  towns:  Gyakiti,  Pese,  Nyampon,  Apatif i,  Apaso,  Anyere- 
wase,  Dasawase  and  Awurahae.  The  Begoros  who  did  not  choose 
to  join  their  brethren,  had  Kofi  Duro  appointed  to  them  by  Dako 
as  their  king.  A  horn  belonging  to  the  king  Kwaw  Kotoko  was 
captured,  which  Pobi  Asomanin  ordered  Abu  of  Ati  to  blow  thus, 
"Kwaw  se  se  . . . .  wodi  to,"  Kwaw  says  he  could  fight,  but  is  pro- 
ved to  be  unable. 


was  despatched  by  king  ( )poku  Ware  to  recall  them  home,  on  whicli 
account  the  Okwawus  were  nicknamed  "Kodiabe"  i.e.  they  are  going  to 
enjoy  palm-wine  and  palm-nuts. 

On  the  arrival  of  king  Odiawuo  with  the  Okwawus,  one  Badu,  a 
descendant  of  the  Kotokus,  was  the  ruler  of  the  whole  country.  Odia- 
wuo thereupon  requested  Badu  to  take  a  fetish  oath  in  allegiance  to 
him,  whilst  his  intentions  were  to  kill  Badu  and  his  people  in  revenge 
of  what  his  ancestors  had  done  to  the  Okwawus.  He  was  attacked  the 
same  night  by  the  king,  but  escaped  to  Tshome  in  the  Krepe  land 
It  was  this  Badu  who  founded  the  kingdom  known  as  Botoku  or  Asabi 
kingdom,  and  which  was  destroyed  by  the  Akwamus  in  the  reign  of 
one  Dako,  the  successor  of  Nkansa.  Odiawuo,  having  expelled  the  Ko- 
tokus from  the  country,  went  in  person  to  Kumase  and  thanked  Opoku 
Ware  for  having  recalled  them.  On  his  return  to  Okwawu,  Opoku  ap- 
pointed Esen  Kagya,  the  ambassador,  and  the  sword-bearer  Dongwa 
as  commissioners  of  tlie  place.  Their  descendants  enjoyed  the  commis- 
sionership  of  the  Okwawu  country  from  that  time  about  150  years  to 
the  year  1874,  when  Antwi  Akomia,  the  last  commissioner,  and  40  of 
his  people  were  murdered  in  cold  blood,  and  their  properties  were  con- 
fiscated by  the  Okwawu  people.  They  thereby  threw  off  their  allegiance 
to  Asante  and  declared  in  favour  of  the  British  government,  through 
king  Amoako  Ata.  Okaraprem  with  the  sword  on  which  a  gold  cannon 
is  placed,  being  a  Kotoku  by  origin,  was  redeemed  by  his  people,  but 
the  sword  was  retained  by   Amoako  Ata. 


Chaptor  V.  63 

Abu  Bonsra  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Bekye,  and  he  again 
by  Amo  Yaw.  Kwafaranioa  was  succeeded  by  Kutukrunku,  and 
Asare  Kofi  also  succeeded  Damaran.*) 

These  emigrants  and  their  people  were  recalled  by  Osei  Tutu 
to  Adanse;  but  Kutukrunku  and  his  people  refused  to  go  back. 
On  the  arrival  (in  Adanse)  of  Amo  Yaw  and  Asare  Kofi  with  Oku- 
maniri  Gyamfi  of  Ahamaso,  Danso  of  Akokoase  and  Gyenin  of 
Kwnntanan,  they  had  to  pay  a  line  of  100  peredwans  and  swear 
allegiance ;  the  government  of  Adanse  was  transferred  from  Amo 
Yaw  to  Asare  Kofi  of  Fomaua,  where  the  ruling  power  has  re- 
mained till  now.  The  chiefs  who  remained  with  Kutukrunku  were 
four,  viz.,  Danso  of  Abomosu,  Kotia  of  Asamanmma,  Nkansa  of  A- 
sunafo,  and  Kyerekye,  the  renowned  fetish  priest  of  Teawia.  The 
former  kings  of  Akcm  Abuakwa  were:  Boakye  I.,  Boakye  II.,  Bo- 
akye  III.,  Agyekum  Adu  Oware  I.,  Agyekum  Adu  Oware  II.,  Agye- 
kum  Adu  Oware  III. —  Ofosuhene  Apenteng  was  the  king  of  the 
Akem  Kotokus  after  the  death  of  Danso  Birempong. 

Having  endeavoured  to  bring  to  view  these  two  tribes  known 
as  Akem,  we  shall  now  cast  a  glance  at  the  vanquished  kingdom 
of  Akra. 

About  20  years  after  the  kingdom  of  Akra  had  been  subjugated 
and  nearly  all  the  inhabitants  on  the  sea-coast  had  emigrated,  the 
remaining  Akras  as  well  as  the  refugees  who  returned  home  with 
the  new  emigrants  from  different  places  had  peopled  several  fine 
towns.  The  slave-trade  which  was  carried  on  at  Akra  chiefly  by 
the  Akwamus  and  also  the  Gomoas  and  Agonas,  with  the  Akras 
as  brokers,  is  said  by  Bosnian  to  have  equalled  that  of  the  whole 
Gold  Coast  together.  This  trade  chiefly  assisted  the  people  of 
Akra  to  rise  from  the  abject  poverty  into  which  they  had  been 
plunged  by  the  Akwamus. 

The  first  king  of  Akra  on  the  coast,  of  whom  we  hear  again, 
was  Nl  Ayi.  The  influential  chief  was  Ama  Kuma.  The  Akwamus 
were  the  lords  and  masters  in  the  land.  Their  king  Akonno  had 
become  envious  of  the  prosperity  of  the  Akras,  and  was  seeking  an 
opportunity  to  fight  them. 


*)  Some  believe  that  Kutukrunku  was  rather  the  first  king  of  the 
Abuakwas  when  at  Adanse  Kubeante  Sebereso.  He  died  there  and  was 
succeeded  by  Daraaran,  who  also  died  before  his  successor  Ofori  Pauyiu 
left  for  Akem. 


64  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Already  during  the  reigns  of  the  three  or  four  kings  who  pre- 
ceded Akonno,  the  Akwamus  had  monopolized  the  trade  on  the 
coast;  Akenis  were  not  permitted  to  buy  goods  direct  from  the 
coast.  Arms  and  ammunition  were  not  sold  to  them  at  all.  Dis- 
sensions, man-stealing  and  plunder  were  prevalent  during  those  days 
among  the  people  of  Agona,  Akrong  or  Gomoa,  Akwamu  and  Akra. 
In  the  former  wars  between  Akwamu  and  Akra  the  Agonas  and 
Gomoas  were  hired  by  the  Akwamus,  who  having  deceived  them  in 
not  paying  what  they  were  promised,  the  latter  paid  themselves  b}' 
kidnapping  them.  The  worst  of  all  was,  that  the  Akwamus  carried 
on  that  nefarious  practice  among  themselves.  A  band  of  strong- 
men had  been  selected  for  that  practice  by  the  Akwamus.  One  of 
them,  very  often,  on  coming  to  the  coast  and  happening  to  lind 
another  from  his  own  place,  enticed  him  to  the  forts  and  sold  him. 
Even  an  Akra  man  meeting  them  on  their  way  to  the  coast  towns 
was  not  safe,  but  sure  to  be  sold,  unless  redeemed  by  his  relatives. 

The  merchants  then  resident  at  Akra,  Danes,  English,  or  Dutch, 
used  every  means  to  slnp  off  from  5  to  (300  slaves  every  month. 
The  Akras  as  brokers  for  the  merchants  grew  rich  by  that  nefarious 
trathc.  Hence  the  Akwamus  were  envious  of  their  fortune,  and 
began  to  take  measures  to  crush  them.  But  as  the  people  of  A- 
krong  and  Agona  were  on  friendly  terms  with  them,  and  carried 
on  their  trade  chietly  at  Akra,  the  Akwamus  were  unable  to  de- 
clare war  against  them,  fearing  they  might  be  attacked  from  be- 
hind, when  fighting  with  the  Akras.  Unhappily  a  war  broke  out 
between  the  Agonas  and  Gomoas. 

Nyako  Ako  (Nyako  Kwaku),  king  of  Agona,  whenever  a  son 
was  born  to  him,  ordered  travellers  and  traders  from  Gomoa  Asen 
to  be  waj'laid  and  beheaded.  He  showed  the  heads  to  his  infant 
child  and  said,  "These  are  my  toys,  grow  up  and  play  with  tliem". 
Thus  he  continued  for  a  long  time,  till  Kwaw  Ehnra  Aku,  the  king 
of  Gomoa  Asen,  got  tired  of  such  repeated  murder  of  his  people,  and 
applied  to  king  Oduro  Tibo  of  Asen  Fufu  (others  believe  that  Kwa- 
ku Bereli,  the  king  of  Mankesim  and  Amoa  Kgbg  Adu  were  asked 
to  assist  in  the  tight)  to  protect  them  from  Nyako  Kwaku.  The 
reward  for  his  services  was  paid  down,  his  forces  with  those  of 
Ehura  Aku  under  Kusa  Adu  marched  against  Nyako,  whose  army  was 
estimated  at  32,000  men.  Nyako  Kwaku  was  defeated,  his  army  dis- 
persed, and  the  king,  with  a  single  wife,  (led  into  the  bush.  This 
Kusa  Adu,  who  liati  b}^  this  time  become  an  inlluential  captain  over 


Chapter  V.  65 

Kwaw  Ehura  Akfi's  army,  was  originally  a  carrier  of  palm-wine, 
a  native  of  Besabew  in  Abora.  Residing  in  the  capital,  he  became 
rich  by  his  trade,  and  after  the  defeat  and  death  of  the  king,  he 
was  made  king  of  Gomoa.*) 

Previous  to  this  war,  Nyako  had  an  Akwamu  man  for  his  friend, 
who  was  in  the  habit  of  bringing  presents  of  sheep  and  other  things 
to  him  on  every  annual  yam-custom.  It  happened  that  the  man 
once  brought  his  son  to  the  capital  to  attend  the  feast,  and  thei-e 
the  young  man  committed  a  criminal  act  with  one  of  Nyako's 
wives.  He  was  thereupon  arrested  to  be  beheaded,  as  is  the  law 
of  the  country.  The  man  bitterly  pleaded  for  the  life  of  the  son, 
made  every  overture  to  the  king  to  spare  the  youth,  as  being  a 
foolish  boy.  He  offered  to  pay  any  sum  to  save  the  life  of  the 
youth.  At  last  he  consented  to  receive  a  fine  of  60  peredwans, 
which  his  friend  borrowed  from  parties  and  accordingly  paid  to 
him  and  was  promised  the  release  of  his  son  the  next  day.  But 
early  in  the  morning  of  the  following  day,  the  king's  drums,  whose 
beatings  indicate  that  a  human  being  has  been  executed,  was  heard. 
"What  is  the  matter!  who  has  been  executed?"  was  the  inquiry 
of  the  people,  but  chiefly  the  man  whose  son  was  under  arrest. 
C)ne  coming  from  the  palace  informed  him,  that  it  was  his  son 
who  had  been  killed.  With  trembling  and  a  flood  of  tears  in  his 
eyes,  he  stepped  inside  and  found  his  son  really  dead.  "Has  the 
king  indeed  killed  my  son  after  such  a  large  fine  had  been  paid?" 
Being  ac(^ompanied  by  the  man  who  witnessed  the  payment  of  the 
fine,  he  asked  Nyako,  why  he  killed  his  son,  for  whom  so  much 
entreaties  had  been  made  and  a  large  tine  paid?  The  king's  re- 
ply was,  "The  fine  was  the  rope  by  which  the  waist  of  your  son 
was  tied  up  to  me  by  yourself;  his  execution  was  a  settled  case, 
the  prescribed  punishment  for  the  act!"  The  sad  story  was  told 
to  the  wife  and  relatives  at  home,  and  all  bewailed  the  loss  of  the 
son  as  well  as  the  large  amount  of  debt  they  had  to  pay  to  the 
creditors.  After  mourning  for  some  days  they  repaired  to  their 
village. 

Subsequently  Nyako  and  his  wife,  roaming  in  the  bush,  arrived 


*)  Tradition  says,  wlien  Governor  Meredith  had  been  murdered  by 
exposure,  the  British  men-of-war  had  to  bombard  Winneba.  During  tliose 
days  one  of  the  people  misplaced  a  large  property,  wliicli  Kusa  Adu 
very  fortunately  got  possession  of.  This  may  be  true,  but  not  in  Me- 
redith's time. 


G6  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

at  tiie  plantation  of  that  Akwaniu  friend.  Here  they  were  found 
by  the  mother  of  the  youth  who  had  been  beheaded.  ^'Okrawa ! 
what  are  you  seeking  for  hereV"  she  asked.  Okrawa  related  the 
sad  story  of  Nj^ako  being  defeated  hy  Odiiro  Tibo,  and  that  they 
were  seeking  for  an  asylum  anywhere.  She  forthwith  repaired 
home  and  told  her  husband  of  it.  ''Do  you  really  mean  NyakoV 
for  I  can  hardly  believe  my  ears."  Her  reply  was  in  the  affirma- 
tive. The  husband  sharpened  his  cutlass  and  placed  it  aside,  ap- 
pointed a  sheep  to  be  killed  for  dinner,  and  went  back  with  his 
wife  to  see  Nyako  himself.  He  was  found  l^^ing  on  the  ground 
upon  some  cloth  they  carried  with  them.  On  seeing  the  man, 
Nyako  said  in  a  mournful  tone,  ''I  am  now  your  slave!"  Upon 
which  a  flood  of  tears  rushed  from  the  man's  eyes  for  the  loss  of 
his  son,  which  poor  Nyako  thought  were  shed  on  his  behalf.  He 
was  brought  home,  presented  with  a  bottle  of  rum  and  a  sheep, 
and  a  dinner  was  prepared.  After  which  he  was  advised  to  wash 
so  as  to  break  the  fast  of  so  many  days  starvation.  While  Nyako 
was  washing  his  head  and  face  with  soap,  the  man  came  upon  him 
suddenly,  and  cut  him  to  pieces !  The  remains  were  put  in  a  basket 
of  palm-branches  and  laid  aside.  But  the  dinner  was  given  to  feast 
the  villagers,  who  got  drunk  and  spent  the  whole  day  and  night 
in  dancing  and  singing. 

Early  the  next  morning  the  body  of  the  unfortunate  Nyako  was 
conveyed  to  Akwamu,  followed  by  the  man  and  his  friends.  Here 
the  whole  story  was  told  to  the  king  and  chiefs,  who*rewarded 
the  man  and  comforted  him  for  his  loss. 

Oduro  Tibo,  who  was  seeking  his  victim  to  capture  him  alive 
or  dead,  was  informed  of  Nyako  being  killed  and  his  body  con- 
veyed to  Akwamu.  He  thereupon  despatched  messengers  to  de- 
mand the  king  of  Akwamu  to  return  the  dead  body  to  him;  which 
Akonno  positively  refused  to  do.  Fresh  messengers  were  sent, 
but  with  no  better  result;  consequently  Tibo  declared  war  against 
him.  The  assistance  of  Agona  was  asked  by  Tibo  to  claim  back 
the  remains  of  their  king,  but  they  flatly  declined  to  do  so.  Akonno 
was  attacked  by  Tibo  and  Kusa  Adu,  and  defeated,  and  many  cap- 
tives were  taken. 

The  Agonas,  hearing  of  Tibo's  success,  required  ro  have  a  share 
of  the  spoil,  otherwise  they  would  dispute  the  passage  he  was  to 
make  back.  He  ordered  his  men  to  march  on  imtil  they  might 
be  attacked,   before  defending  themselves.     Which  becoming  sure, 


Chapter  V.  67 

Tibo  mounted  his  royal  stool  and  offered  a  libation  of  water  to  God 
and  earthj  callino:  them  to  plead  his  case  and  defend  him.  The 
Ai^onas  attacked  him,  but  were  repulsed  with  heav\y  loss,  which 
obliged  them  to  send  a  flag-  of  truce  to  negotiate  for  peace.  A 
meeting  was  held,  at  which  the  Agonas  were  severely  reprimanded^ 
Yaw  Menta,  an  utter  foreigner,  was  placed  on  the  stool  of  Agona, 
and  Tibo,  after  threatening  vengeance  against  any  one  who  should 
dare  to  revolt,  returned  to  his  country.  Since  that  time  the  descend- 
ants of  Yaw  Menta  have  been  the  rulers  of  Agona. 

During  Nyako's  reign,  his  mother  died,  so  all  his  subjects  at- 
tended the  funeral  with  the  usual  salute  of  musketry ;  but  the  people 
of  Winneba  were  late  in  doing  honour  to  her  memory.  On  their 
arrival,  however,  Nyako  objected  to  their  firing  the  salute,  and 
being  thus  put  to  shame,  not  knowing  what  might  be  the  con- 
sequence, they  ordered  out  a  cannon  from  Europe  and  carried  it 
to  Anyakrom.  The  king  replied,  ''Indeed,  muskets  were  fired  by 
my  chiefs  and  people;  if  the  Winnebas  will  fire  a  cannon  now, 
I  agree  to  it."  They  fired  it  for  several  days  at  Anyakrom,  where 
it  remains  up  to  this  time.  It  is  customary  also  before  the  funeral 
ceremony  to  make  figures  or  statues  of  the  deceased,  either  of  clay 
or  wood,  which  are  placed  under  a  shed  outside  the  town,  and 
honoured  by  daily  meat-offerings.  But  these  meals  are  devoured 
by  mice  and  lizards.  Nyako  objected  to  thus  placing  the  statue 
of  his  mother  and  the  meals  on  the  road ;  he  said,  "Spirits  are  like 
winds,  and  therefore  the  spirit  of  my  mother  can  enjo}^  the  meal 
anywhere  else  than  on  the  roads.  He  accordingly  ordered  wooden 
j'Cgs  to  be  fixed  in  a  large  silk-cotton-tree  near  the  town,  by 
means  of  which  the  tree  could  be  ascended  and  the  statue  and 
meals  placed  on  the  top  of  the  tree.  A  sentry  was  appointed  to 
stand  by  on  the  top  of  the  tree,  and  cry  to  travellers  passing  by, 
"Wouldn't  you  look  at  the  statue  of  Nyako  Ako's  mother?"  Hence, 
when  children  are  cross  and  trouble  their  mothers  by  crying,  the 
mothers  usually  tell  them,  "Mayest  thou  weep  on  and  die,  even  if 
thou  couldst  do  me  once  the  honour  of  placing  my  statue  and  meal 
on  a  silk-cotton-tree !" 

As  the  king  of  Akem  had  assisted  the  Dankeras  against  Asante, 
the  next  war  in  revenge  was  that  declared  by  Qsei  Tutu  against 
them.  Ofosuhene  Apenteng  was  then  the  king  in  Asante-Akem, 
and  Kutukurunku  was  king  of  Abuakwa;  both  had  determined 
to  stand  independent  of  the  powerful  king  of  Asante.    In  the  year 

5* 


68  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

1700  Qsei  Tutu  marched  against  Akeni,  and,  after  two  bloodj  battles, 
they  were  defeated,  and  Ofosuhene  Apenteng-  was  taken  prisoner, 
whose  eftigy  decorated  the  state-umbrella  of  Asafo  Awere.  His 
sister  Nyantadam  was  captured  by  Oponkoko,  brother  of  general 
Amankwa  of  Nsuta,  and  Asiedu  Apagya  was  also  captured.  Nyan- 
tadam was  married  to  Oponkoko,  from  whom  she  had  eight 
children,  Firempong  and  his  sisters:  Awusi,  Korankyewa,  Biama, 
Atimwa,  Bensua,  Agyoboa,  Ampoma,  Oboahema.  Ampim  was  cous- 
in to  Firempong,  his  mother's  name  was  Gyamfi  Kese,  sister  of 
Nyantadam,     Thus  Akem  became  tributary  to  Asante. 

To  get  rid  of  paying  the  yearly  tribute,  Akram,  Apenteng's  suc- 
cessor, and  Kutukurunku  proposed  to  quit  the  country  for  some 
time.  Having  entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  Akwamus  to 
protect  six  of  their  princesses,  they  left.  Akram  went  to  Kotoku 
near  Okwawu,  since  which  time  that  tribe  of  Tshuforo  Atoam  was 
called  Kotoku  (by  Europeans:  Western  Akem);  Kutukrunku  went 
to  some  place  in  the  forest,  some  say,  to  Krepe,  but  we  think,  it 
was  the  Krobo  mountain  where  they  sought  refuge. 

After  roaming  in  the  forest  for  three  years,  they  returned  to 
Akem  and  demanded  back  the  royal  family  from  the  Akwamus. 
From  the  year  1702 — 1720  the  differences  between  Akem  and  A- 
kwamu  began  under  king  Akonno.  The  princesses,  having  got 
married  and  born  children,  feeling  more  comfortable  and  quiet  in 
Akwamu,  declined  to  return.  Consequently  war  was  declared 
against  them.  But  unable  to  figlit,  the  Akwamus  sued  for  peace, 
delivered  back  those  women  and  children,  and  a  certain  sum  was 
annually  paid  to  Akem  as  indemnity  of  war. 

In  about  1730  Akem  again  rebelled.  Osei  Tutu  immediately 
marched  an  army  into  the  disloyal  province  and  fought  a  bloody 
battle  at  Koromante,  in  which  the  Akems,  being  defeated,  were 
obliged  to  cross  the  Pra  and  placed  an  ambuscade  there.  The  vic- 
torious sovereign  fell  into  it  one  Monday,  and  was  slain  whilst 
crossing  the  river, —  some  say,  while  ascending  the  hill  which  got 
the  name  Koromante,  in  memory  of  the  battle.  This  account  of 
the  king's  death  is  refuted  by  the  Asantes.  They  say,  the  king 
was  infirm  and  not  in  a  good  health  when  forced  to  take  the 
field  against  the  rebellious  Akems,  and  although  the  army  was 
proceeding  successfully  in  its  mission,  the  king  very  unfortunately 
died  a  natural  death.  Opoku  Ware,  not  informing  the  nobles  and 
generals  of  what  had  taken  place,  coffined  the  remains  of  the  mon- 


Chapter  V.  69 

arch,  and  ordered  it  to  be  carried  in  the  rear  of  the  armj',  Opo- 
ku  revenged  his  uncle's  death  and  punished  the  Akerns  severely. 
After  this  he  told  the  nobles  of  ^Yhat  had  happened,  and  the  army 
marched  back  to  Kumase. 

As  even  the  natural  death  of  an  Asante  monarch  is  a  great  na- 
tional calamit}^  that  in  camp  is  a  thousand  times  worse.  Hence^ 
when  any  of  the  warriors  was  asked  as  to  the  rumours  of  the  king's 
death,  his  reply  was,  "Mekoroe  na  mante"  i.e.  I  joined  the  campaign, 
but  never  heard  of  it.  This  became  the  oath  "Koromante",  the  most 
binding  and  dreadful  of  Asante  oaths,  which  still  embalms  the  memory 
of  the  most  powerful  and  victorious  king  Osei  Tutu.  The  oath  Me- 
meneda  Korgmante  unites  two  oaths,  for  the  Asante  oath  Memeneda 
originated  with  the  death  of  Osei  Bonsu. 

After  the  bloody  funeral  custom  for  the  deceased  king  had  been 
performed,  the  stool  was  offered  to  his  nephew  Opoku  Ware,  who 
had  not  only  successfully  conducted  the  last  campaign,  but  also 
been  appointed  by  the  late  king  himself.  There  were  two  other 
nephews,  Dako  and  Dako,  who  likewise  claimed  the  stool.  Opoku 
tried  to  settle  it  among  themselves  amicably  and  to  share  the  estate 
with  them,  but  not  the  stool.  They  rejected  his  offers  and  induced 
a  good  number  of  the  Kumases  to  favour  their  claims,  while  the 
majority  was  on  the  opposite  side.  This  nearly  led  to  a  civil  war; 
but  Opoku  prudently  checked  it  and  ordered  Dako  and  Dako  and 
their  people  to  be  killed.  They  all  were  beheaded,  except  one 
girl,  thus  putting  a  stop  to  bloodshed.  Opoku  was  proclaimed  the 
successor  of  his  uncle  Osei  Tutu  in  the  year  1731. 

We  must  now  follow  the  refugees  driven  from  Ahantang  to  Akem, 
and  after  that  take  a  glance  at  Akwamu  and  Akra. 

Akram,  the  successor  of  Ofosuhene  Apentengy')  having  crossed  the 
Pra,  sought  refuge  in  a  place  near  Okwawu  and  Aguogo,  known 
as  Kotoku.  This  tribe  got  the  name  Kotoku  from  having  settled 
there.  The  Kotokus  seem  to  have  been  driven  again  from  this 
place,  and  made  a  jtermanent  settlement  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Pra,  where  they  founded  the  capital  Da.  It  was  near  Asuom  by 
one  A  ma  Kotope  at  Obobitwaw,  who  was  a  native  of  Tshuforo 
proper,  whose  descendants  emigrated  with  Ansa  Sasaraku,  but 
were  left  here  when  the  latter  came  to  Asaman-kese.    The  kings 

*)  Home  have  the  opinion  that  the  immediate  successor  of  Ofosuhene 
Apenteng  was  Firempong  ^lanso,  and  that  Ampim  succeeded  him,  and 
was  again  succeeded   by   Kwilhene  Boroni  and   Gyaberenkum. 


70  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Kwahene  Boroni  and  Gyaberenkurn  successively  assumed  the 
government  in  Da,  and  now  the  royal  family  found  it  necessary 
to  redeem  Nyantadam's  children  from  Nsuta.  The  sum  of  100  pre- 
dwans,  30  sheep  and  30  ankers  of  rum  were  sent,  and  the  follow- 
ing royal  personages  were  brought  to  Da,  viz.,  Ampim,  Firempoug 
and  Firempomma.  Before  leaving  Asante,  they  were  made  to  swear 
a  fetish  oath,  never  to  be  hostile  against  them,  whenever  any  of 
them  should  become  king  of  T)ii. 

Ampim,  brother  of  Firempong,  succeeded  Gyaberenkum,  in  whose 
reign  there  was  peace  between  Asante  and  Akem,  on  account  of 
the  fetish  oath  he  and  his  brother  had  sworn.  But  there  was  no 
peace  on  the  coast  and  in  Asante,  as  Opoku  Ware  took  advantage 
of  the  peaceful  time  to  conquer  the  north-western,  northern  and 
eastern  districts  of  his  kingdom. 

At  last  Akonno,  during  the  contest  between  Tibo  and  Nyako, 
declared  war  against  Akra  for  the  following  reason. 

The  yearly  feast  Homowo  came  on,  when  Akonno  despatched 
his  wives  down  to  the  coast  to  attend  the  celebration  of  the  feast. 
He  advised  them  to  put  up  with  Ama  Kuma,  his  friend,  who  ac- 
cordingly provided  them  a  whole  compound  for  their  accommoda- 
tion and  treated  them  with  great  courtesy.  The  feast  being  over, 
the  ladies  returned  to  Akwamu,  when  Ama  was  by  false  reports 
from  the  coast  accused  of  having  had  illegal  intercourse  with  some 
of  the  king's  wives.  Akonno  being  very  greedy  for  mono}'',  fining 
people  very  often  from  mere  suspicion,  accordingly  sent  messengers 
to  demand  1000  heads  of  cowries  as  satisfaction  from  Ama.  The 
latter,  though  innocent,  was  forced  to  comply.  Another  report  was 
sent  to  the  king  to  say,  the  fine  was  nothing  at  all  to  Ama,  as  it 
was  not  paid  by  himself,  but  only  by  his  slaves.  This  encouraged 
the  greedy  king  to  demand  another  fine  of  1000  heads,  which  Ama, 
paid  through  the  advice  of  his  friends,  only  to  maintain  peace. 
Desirous  to  make  war,  Akonno  sent  the  third  time  for  a  similar 
sum.  NT  'Ayi,  king  of  Akra,  and  his  chiefs  raised  objections  to  such 
an  act  of  Akonno,  which  eventually  caused  the  intended  war. 

Owing  to  incessant  inroads,  kidnappings  and  sieges,  all  the  towns 
along  the  coast  had  been  surrounded  by  close  fences  of  the  prickly 
pear  (Cactus  opuntia),  introduced  from  St.  Thomas  by  the  Portu- 
guese, who  made  of  it  enclosures  for  pigs  and  cattle.  In  those 
days  of  dissensions  the  Akras  sent  canoes  with  armed  men  to  Ningo 
and  such  places  to  get  supplies  of  this  valuable  plant. 


Chaptor  V.  71 

Akonno  marched  towards  Akra  with  an  army.  He  was  met 
half  way  by  a  quite  iusufticieiit  force,  who  were  driven  back  to 
the  town  and  besieged.  The  Akras  were  soon  forced  to  seek  shelter 
in  the  Fort  Crevecoeur.  The  king-  Ni  'Ayi  and  his  party  with  nearly 
all  the  warriors  entered  in  time,  whilst  Ama  with  a  small  body- 
guard, being  too  late,  was  shut  out.  He  escaped  to  sea  in  a  canoe, 
but  the  man  at  the  helm  was  shot  down.  Accompanied  by  only 
two  men,  he  was  fleeing  to  James  Fort,  where  they  were  murdered 
to  the  great  dissatisfaction  of  Akonno,  who  would  have  rather  had 
him  alive  to  extort  a  heavy  ransom. 

Elated  by  success,  Akonno  shortly  after  declared  war  against 
Osu,  Labade  and  Teshi,  who  not  having  assisted  Akra,  had  now 
singly  to  face  the  powerful  invader.  Labade,  being  unprotected 
\vith  cannon,  was  one  night  stormed,  when  a  great  many  of  its 
inhabitants  were  slain  or  captured  and  sold  to  the  slave-dealers. 
King  Okpoti  (Odoi  Kpoti)  alone  lost  1000  of  his  own  people,  and 
was  obliged,  with  few  of  his  retainers,  to  ilee  for  shelter  to  Christians- 
borg.  The  warriors  of  the  three  towns  congregated  in  Osu,  their 
women  and  children  were  escorted  by  armed  men  to  Sanya.  NT 
Tshie  was  a  youth  at  that  time  and  one  of  the  escorts.  At  Obenesu*) 
a  battle  was  fought,  in  which  the  Akwamus  lost  their  best  chiefs*"^) 
and  fell  back  to  their  camp  at  Labade,  to  prepare  for  another  at- 
tack; the  Akra  army  retired  to  Christiansborg.  Sowa,  brother  of 
Adshei  Kwaw,  repaired  to  Teshi  with  his  sons  to  get  provisions; 
on  their  return  they  were  attacked  by  the  enemy;  the  father  was 
caught,  but  his  son  Laye  Nam  escaped  by  swimming  in  the  sea  to 
Dutch  Akra.  The  Akwamus,  enraged  at  their  loss,  made  a  second 
attack,  which  forced  the  Akras  to  fall  back  to  Christiansborg.  The 
Akras,  having  run  short  of  powder,  requested  the  Governor  of 
Christiansborg  for  a  supply,  who  seeming  to  have  some  ill-feeling 
against  the  Labadea  for  destroying  the  Ningowas,  declined  to  do 
so.  He  is  reported  to  have  said  to  them,  "Use  the  powder  you 
had  against  the  Ningowas  for  your  defence."  Whilst  they  were 
encamping  at  Tshabele,  a  vessel  anchored  there  unexpectedly  and 
they  obtained  ammunition  from  the  captain  by  pawning  their  chil- 
dren, whom  they  redeemed  after  the  war  was  over. 

*)  Obanin-ansu  ?    most    probably    Abenne-nsii  =  skirmishing    water. 
The  two  hf)stile  armies  were  supplied  with   water  from  the  place. 

**)  Tradition  says,  that  Akonno  was  captured  and  beheaded  by  Adshei 
Kwaw,   the  son   of  chief  No-mashi   of  Tesbi. 


72  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

The  European  merchants  of  Christiansborg-  and  Akra,  who  had 
kept  themselves  neutral  till  now  for  fear  of  stoppage  of  trade  as 
well  as  troubles  from  the  Akwamus,  interfered  on  behalf  of  the 
people,  lavished  presents  on  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akwamu,  pro- 
mising to  become  sureties  for  the  defeated,  and  so  peace  was  made. 
The  heads  of  the  chiefs  of  Akra  and  Labade  cut  during  the  war 
were  returned  to  the  merchants,  who  gave  them  back  to  their  re- 
spective relatives  (although  some  say,  those  heads  were  kept  in 
the  castle  of  Christiansborg).  The  king  of  Akwamu  then  sent 
messengers  throughout  the  country  to  inform  the  refugees  to  return 
home,  as  peace  had  been  made.  So  all  refugees  to  Shai,  Sanya,  &c. 
returned  home.  He  also  gave  two  girls  of  his  royal  family  as  a 
token  of  his  sympathy  for  the  loss  the^-  had  sustained.  One  of  the 
girls  was  given  in  marriage  to  Okpoti  of  Labade,  and  the  other  to 
Dako  of  Akra.  A  policy  which  might  eventually  have  brought 
the  Akras  under  his  power,  if  the  descendants  of  these  girls  had 
obtained  the  stools.  He  nearly  succeeded  in  that  plan,  had  not 
Akwamu  been  destroyed  afterwards,  in  which  time  a  son  born  by 
the  one  given  to  Dako  was  a  youth,  and  became  the  king  of  Akwa- 
mu with  the  name  Dako  Panyin. 

The  Akwamus,  becoming  powerful,  desired  Akonno,  no  more  to 
pay  the  annual  tribute  to  Akem.  The  king  seemingly  agreed. 
When  ambassadors  came  to  demand  the  tribute  at  the  usual  time, 
the  king  before  his  chiefs  bullied  them  and  put  them  into  prison. 
During  the  night,  however,  he  released  and  sent  them  away  with 
the  tribute;  but  at  day-break  he  told  his  chiefs,  the  ambassadors 
had  absconded.  His  subjects  did  not  like  him ;  they  held  him  in 
suspicion  as  an  accomplice  in  stealing  their  people.  He  reigned 
from  1702 — 1726  and  died. 

Akwanno  (Ansa  Sasraku  HI.),  who  assumed  the  government  after 
the  demise  of  Akonno  in  1726,  not  only  refused  to  pay  the  tribute 
to  Akem,  but  went  so  far  as  to  kill  the  ambassadors.  He  beheaded 
them  and  put  their  heads  in  a  bag  for  the  only  survivor  among 
them  to  carry  to  Akem.  The  Akems  could  have  marched  against 
them,  but  on  account  of  the  unsettled  state  of  affairs  between  them- 
selves and  Asante,  they  were  obliged  to  leave  them  alone  for  a 
time,  which  encouraged  them  to  carry  on  trade  freely  and  also  to 
make  war  on  and  plunder  the  Akras,  Akuapems  and  Adangmes. 
Then  it  was  that  the  large  and  biggest  towns  of  Akuapem  were 
depopulated;  Abotaki,  the  then  ca[)ital  of  Akuapem,  was  ravaged 
with  fire  and  sword. 


Chapter  V.  73 

Shai,  the  kingdom  of  Lanitno  (or  according-  to  Bosnian  Lading- 
cour),  was  not  spared.  This  kingdom  consisted  of  the  following- 
22  towns  about  the  Shai  mountain,  viz.,  Legbedshe,  Manjji,  Le- 
nodshe,  Kpofu,  Asinodshe,  Salom,  Bonase,  Mapong-,  Dobo,  Ladoku, 
Yoma,  Abotia,  Klekpe,  Nagala,  JMagbien,  Mla^  Drawe,  Laga,  Ka- 
yikpo,  Gbiaka,  Hiowe  and  Ninawe,  with  the  capital  at  Klekpe. 

Lanimo,  the  father  of  Late  Odoi,  who  was  the  first  king  of  Krobo, 
was  both  priest  and  king-,  and  Sodshe  of  the  town  Kayikpo  was 
the  most  powerful  general  of  the  priest,  having  the  command  of 
16  towns  directly  under  him.  After  continuous  inroads  of  the  A- 
kwamus,  thej'^  were  advised  by  the  invaders,  to  cut  off  the  right 
hand  of  the  general  to  stop  the  war.  The  Shais,  being-  tired,  con- 
sented to  that  request  and  accordingly  cut  the  general's  hand  off. 
This  grieved  him  so  much  that  he  quitted  the  country.  As  he 
was  the  protector  of  Shai,  the  others  determined  to  emigrate  with 
him,  and  travelling  towards  the  east,  they  settled  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Godshei,  hence  Shai  Godshei.  In  memory  of  Lanimo, 
the  defender  of  the  Adangmo  tribes,  this  song  was  composed:  ''La- 
nimo be  we,  ni  momoi  ye  nma  ke  tsn,"  i.e.  In  consequence  of 
Lanimo's  absence  the  whole  barn  of  corn  was  eaten  up  by  corn- 
flies.  The  inhabitants  of  the  town  Mapong,  who  were  descendants 
chiefly  of  fallen  women  of  Otufo,  and  were  detested,  could  not  go 
along  with  them,  but  settled  on  the  Akuapem  mountains.  By  these 
Mampong  in  Akuapem  is  said  to  have  been  peopled.  The  Ladokus 
removed  to  La  and  others  to  Prampram  and  formed  the  Klei  quarter 
there.  The  very  few  fugitives  partl}^  went  to  Krobo,  and  the  rest 
concealed  themselves  on  the  Shai  mountain,  till  they  increased  suffi- 
ciently to  become  a  town. 

It  was  from  these  places  the  Akuamus  chiefly  obtained  captives 
for  the  European  slave-dealers,  that  the  king  alone  sold  in  every 
month  from  2  to  300  slaves.  Hence  he  became  the  most  powerful 
and  wealthy  king  on  the  whole  Gold  Coast.  Another  resource  for 
the  king  was  the  heavj^  fines  demanded  from  people  who  had  cri- 
minal connection  with  his  numerous  wives  he  had  married  in 
every  town  and  village,  wliom  he  did  not  keep  in  the  harem,  but 
let  them  free  in  order  to  get  people  into  trouble.  When  the  offen- 
ders' relatives  were  unable  to  meet  the  fine,  the  offender  and  se- 
veral members  of  the  family  were  sold  from  the  country.  The 
king  and  his  selected  banditti  alone  spent  an  amount  of  1000  slaves 
worth  in  rum  everv  veai"! 


74  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  warlike  and  victorious  reign  of  Opoku  Ware.  —  His  wars  against 
Amo  Yaw  of  'J'akiman.  —  The  great  improvement  in  the  Akra  king- 
dom in  the  reign  of  King  Ayikuma  Tieko,  and  his  preparation  against 
Akwamn. —  Firempong  declared  war  against  Akwanno,  and  the  troubles 
on  the  coast.  —  The  three  kings  of  Akem  and  their  being  hired  by  the 
Akras  to  fight  the  Akwamus. —  Their  expulsion  to  Krepe,  and  Akem's 
supremacy  on  the  coast.  —  The  battle  of  Benna  and  the  invasion  of 
Kumase  by  Abirimoro,  —  Safwi  and  Gyaman  ravaged.  Subjugation  of 
Buron-Kyempim  and  Ntamang. —  1731 — 1749. 

Opoku  Ware  on  his  accession  to  the  stool  restored  peace,  and 
requested  the  fugitive  Bafo,  vs'ho  had  taken  refuge  at  Nkoransa, 
to  return  to  his  district.  The  povi^erful  king  of  Takiman,  Anio  Yaw, 
objected  to  this  request.  Meanwhile  Opoku  had  advised  Bafo's  re- 
lations at  Makoin,  urgently  to  request  him  to  return  home.  By 
those  messengers  Bafo  not  only  informed  the  king  of  his  willingness 
to  do  so,  but  also  stated  how  he  could  manage  to  defeat  Amo  Yaw 
and  make  his  kingdom  tributary  to  Asante,  on  condition  that  he 
should  rule  over  it.  When  all  was  arranged  between  the  king 
and  Bafo's  people,  Opoku  requested  Amo  Yaw  to  send  back  Bafo. 
He  rephed,  ''No  one  placing  himself  under  the  protection  of  the  golden 
stool  of  Takiman  can  ever  be  delivered  up;  it  is  therefore  im- 
possible for  me  to  comply  with  Opoku's  request."  Besides  this, 
he  ill-treated  the  Asante  traders  to  his  kingdom.  Amo  Yaw  was 
too  powerful  a  sovereign  to  submit  to  a  demand  from  such  an  in- 
ferior king  as  Opoku.  Both  Amo  Yaw  and  his  sister  Dwamarawa 
were  so  rich  that  the}^  counted  gold  as  stones  on  the  street.  The 
latter  often  asked,  "What  do  people  mean  by  poverty?  I  wish  I 
could  know  what  it  is!"  Tanno,  the  principal  fetish,  often  warned 
her  never  to  use  such  expressions,  as  poverty  might  overtake  her 
unawares.     She,  however,  did  not  believe  this. 

Bafo  meanwhile  kept  up  constant  communication  with  Opoku, 
informing  him  how  things  were  going  on  at  Takiman.  At  the 
same  time  he  was  the  chief  adviser  of  Amo  Yaw.  This  monarch 
asked  Bafo,  "How  do  the  Asantes  manage,  although  not  so  power- 
ful a  state,  to  conquer  great  kingdoms,  as  Dankera  and  others?" 
He  replied,  "My  people  remove  the  firelocks  from  their  muskets 
and  bury  them  in  the  ground.  They  are  then  loaded  to  be  used 
by    the  warriors,   who   order    the  guns   "tow!    tow!"    that  is,  fire! 


Chapter  VI.  75 

If  not  heeding  the  first  or  second  order,  they  must  obey  the  third 
or  fourth,  and  fire  on  repeatedly."  Amo  Yaw,  having  placed  so 
much  confidence  in  Bfifo,  believed  all  he  said,  and  ordered  all  their 
firelocks  to  be  removed  and  buried.  This  being  known  to  Opoku, 
he  marched  against  Amo  Yaw  with  an  army.  The  overwhelming 
forces  ofTakiman  mustered  and  encamped  to  repulse  the  invaders. 
The  treacherous  Bafo  marched  out  with  the  king  against  the  Asan- 
tes,  and  encamped  close  to  the  king,  letting  Opoku  know  his  own 
position  in  the  camp,  that  the  Asantes  might  shoot  there  without 
bullets.  When  the  battle  commenced,  the  deluded  Takimans  said: 
"tow,  tow  !'"  to  their  guns.  Opoku  rushed  swiftly  upon  Amo  Yaw 
and  Bafo,  and  took  both  prisoners.  The  Takiman  army  was  routed 
and  multitudes  made  prisoners.  A  certain  Asante,  before  going 
his  rounds  for  plunder,  placed  a  loaded  gun  on  two  forked  sticks, 
and,  in  hearing  of  his  prisoners,  addressed  it  thus  — ■  "You  gun,  take 
care  of  these  prisoners  till  I  come  back;  should  any  one  dare  to 
escape,  shoot  him  dead!"  The  poor  prisoners  were  obliged  to  ask 
permission  from  the  gun,  as  school-boys  and  girls  do  if  they  want 
to  go  out  for  water  or  otherwise.  Thus  every  warrior  managed 
to  catch  plenty  of  prisoners  and  large  spoil. 

By  Bafo's  advices,  Amo  Yaw  and  his  sister  Dvvamarawa  with 
himself  were  placed  in  irons;  the  whole  treasure  of  the  kingdom 
was  carried  off  by  the  A.santes,  whose  power  was  greatly  increased 
by  this  conquest.  Several  improvements  were,  by  the  advise  of 
Amo  Y"aw,  made  in  the  government  and  social  condition  of  Asante. 
He  taught  Opoku  to  use  gold  and  silver  weights,  to  claim  the  estate 
of  a  deceased  chief  or  general,  to  make  several  laws  by  which 
offenders  were  fined  to  increase  his  power  and  keep  down  the 
subjects.  Dwamarawa,  who  once  boasted  of  riches,  was  now  ob- 
liged to  sweep  the  market-places  and  the  most  stinking  parts  of 
Kumase.  In  doing  this  she  used  to  throw  away  her  smoking-pipe 
from  her  mouth.  In  her  glorious  days  the  pipes  she  threw  away 
were  snatched  by  1000  maidens  who  stood  around;  as  there  was 
no  one  about  her  now  to  pick  them  up,  such  pipes  fell  to  the  ground, 
and  consequently  thousands  of  them  were  lost. 

The  king  one  day  called  the  army  to  the  capital,  congratulated 
the  chiefs  and  generals  on  their  success,  and  requested  them  to 
thank  Bafo  for  the  assistance  he  had  rendered  to  Asante;  Amo 
Yaw  now  perceived  how  foolish  he  had  been  in  taking  the  advice 
of  Brdb.     The  king  requested  Bafo  to  return  home;  but  as  it  had 


76  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  aud  Asante. 

been  agreed  upon,  that  he  should  rule  the  country,  and  as  he  had 
meanwhile  advised  the  Mohammedan  subjects  to  flee  till  his  return 
to  Nkoransa,  his  treachery  both  to  Amo  Yaw  and  Opoku  came  to 
light;  hence  the  expression  "treacherous  as  Bafo."  He  obtained  the 
rule  in  Nkoransa  and  recalled  the  Mohammedan  refugees;  thus  it 
became  a  tributary  state  to  Asante.  Amo  Yaw's  persistent  en- 
deavours in  advocating  despotic  rule  led  to  a  conspiracy  of  the 
chiefs  and  generals,  in  which  he  was  killed. 

Ayikuma  Tieko  had  acceded  to  the  stool  of  Akra  after  the  death 
of  NT  Ayi.  Being  an  intelligent  king,  he  established  the  regal 
power  by  recalling  his  subjects  who  were  dispersed  about  the  coun- 
try or  had  emigrated  to  Little  Popo  in  consequence  of  the  Akwamu 
invasions.  His  friendly  connection  with  the  Dutch  Government, 
and  the  improvement  he  introduced  in  the  country,  encouraged  the 
fugitives  to  return  home.  He  abolished  capital  punishment,  and 
the  p)ractice  of  pa^nng  double  dowry  for  wives.  Previous  to  that 
time  dowry  was  given  twice:  the  first,  to  obtain  the  wife,  and  the 
last,  when  she  died. 

As  brokers  to  the  slave-traders,  the  king  as  well  as  several  of 
liis  subjects  had  grown  rich  in  the  country;  yet  they  were  tribu- 
tary to  the  Akwatnus.  The  king,  knowing  how  powerful  his  an- 
cestors were  in  times  gone  by,  when  the  Akwamus  were  vassals 
to  them,  was  never  pleased  to  undergo  that  state  of  servitude  under 
their  former  subjects.  Hence  he  was  meditating  some  means  or 
other  to  get  rid  of  that  heavy  Akwamu  yoke.  It  happened  one 
day  that  some  dispute  arose  between  the  governor  of  the  fort  and 
the  king.  Some  say,  the  Dutch  Governor,  being  invited  b}^  the 
Governor  of  Christiansborg  to  dinner,  had  the  king  in  his  company. 
At  the  party  the  Danish  Governor  is  said  to  have  given  a  stroke 
in  the  face  of  the  king,  which  he  returned  some  days  afterwai-ds 
to  the  Danish  Governor,  when  on  a  visit  to  his  town  Akra.  This 
greatly  annoyed  the  Dutch  Governor,  who  said,  the  case  had  been 
settled  already,  the  king  ought  not  to  have  revenged  himself  after 
all.  Others  sa}'-,  it  was  the  Dutch  Governor  himself  who  struck 
the  king's  face.  On  that  account  the  king  did  no  more  visit  the 
Fort  for  a  good  length  of  time,  which  gave  uneasiness  to  His  Ex- 
cellency. His  time  to  go  on  leave  was  coming  on,  and  apprehend- 
ing that  his  successor  inight  have  cause  of  sending  a  bad  report 
of  him  to  the  Governor  General  at  Elmina,  he  called  upon  the 
chiefs  of  the  town  to  negotiate  on  his  behalf,  that  the  king  might 


Chapter  VI.  77 

be  induced  to  have  the  difference  settled  before  the  arrival  of  the 
new  Governor.  At  hist  the  king  opened  his  mind  to  his  chiefs, 
that,  should  the  Governor  take  upon  himself  to  support  them  with 
arms  and  ammunition  to  break  down  the  power  of  Akwamu,  then 
alone  he  would  consent.  That  being-  told  the  Governor,  wiio  knew 
what  sort  of  a  plague  the  Akwamus  were  to  both  white  and  l^iack, 
he  readily  consented,  and  the  case  was  amicably  settled. 

To  ascertain  the  number  of  warriors  of  both  Akwamu  and  Akem, 
the  Governor  travelled  to  both  places  and  distributed  pipes  and 
tobacco  to  every  warrior.  On  his  return  he  assured  the  king  of 
success  ol"  their  intended  war  against  iVkwamu.  Every  arrangement 
on  behalf  of  the  Dutch  Goverimient  for  supplying  arms  and  am- 
munition was  entered  into,  Prince  Ayai  (Tete  Ahene  Akwa),  son, 
and  Okaidsha,  nephew,  were  given  as  security  for  the  amount  of 
supply  of  arms  and  ammunition  to  be  required.  These  matters 
being  settled,  an  opportunity  to  give  a  hint  to  the  Akem  kings  had 
to  be  sought  for. 

In  the  meanwhile  Firempong  had  assumed  the  government  of 
Akem  Kotoku  after  the  death  of  his  brother  Ampim,  during  whose 
reign  there  was  peace  between  Akem  and  Asante  on  account  of 
the  fetish-oath  administered  to  them  previous  to  their  leaving 
the  place. 

Besides,  Opoku  Ware  had  assured  Firempon,  when  he  presented 
him  with  a  young  tamed  elephant,  that  he  would  never  take  up 
arms  against  Akem  during  his  life-time.  Kutukrijnku  was  still  the 
king  of  Akem  Abuakwa.  Akwanno,  the  Akwamu  king,  had  refused 
to  pay  the  tribute  to  Akem  and  killed  the  ambassadors,  after  that 
arrested  and  plundered  300  men  with  their  loads  belonging  to 
Firempong.  The  cause  was  this :  Prince  Kotiko  was  sent  by  his 
father  with  those  people  to  buy  goods  from  the  coast.  On  their 
return  home,  they  had  a  dispute  with  Okrapa  (a  female  slave  of 
Akwanno),  which  he  made  a  pretext  for  hostilities.  When  goods 
and  people  were  seized,  Akwanno  released  four  men  to  accompany 
the  prince  to  tell  his  father  what  he  had  done,  challenging  him  to 
come  out  for  his  property.*) 

Firempong  Man  so  thereupon  informed  Kutukrunku  of  Akem-Akro- 

*)  Others  believe  that  the  king  of  Akwamu  at  that  time  was  Mann- 
kure,  and  that  he  and  Firempong  began  their  quarrel  at  Kumase,  and 
Osei  Tutu  was  about  to  pacify  them,  but  one  Ofosu  Twitvviakwa  in- 
stio-ated  the  kino-  not  to  do  so. 


78  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  aud  Asaute. 

pong  that  he  was  preparing  against  Akwamu  to  claim  back  their 
[iroperty,  wishing  him  to  join  with  his  arm,y.  With  an  army  of 
40,000  they  marched  and  attacked  Akwamu,  but  were  repulsed 
with  a  loss  of  Kutukrunku,  Gyamankoroa,  nephew  of  Firempong, 
and  several  others  after  three  days'  engagement.  Firempong  re- 
treated and  encamped  at  Anyakurom ;  from  thence  he  asked  the 
assistance  of  Oduro  Tibo  of  Asen  Fufu  and  Teteakoro  II.  of  Adyu- 
mako.  Damaram  succeeded  Kutukrunku,  and  encamped  at  Apira- 
man.  It  appears  that  Kudsha  was  king  at  Akra,  who  sent  out 
some  detachment  of  his  army  to  join  in  the  war.  Thus  reinforced, 
Firempong  marched  against  Akwanno.  He  captured  one  of  his  chiefs, 
Boadu.  Yet  the  Akwamu  women  cherished  the  hope  of  success, 
and  said,  so  long  as  general  Amanya  Kwaw  was  commanding  the 
army,  there  was  nothing  to  fear.  But  at  last  this  general  also  was 
caught  alive,  and  both  he  and  that  chief  were  beheaded  by  Ba 
Kwante,  who  sung,  ^'Makum  Boadu,  makum  Amanya  Kwaw,  brafo 
ne  me,  brafo  ne  me!"  I  have  killed  both  Boadu  and  Amanya  Kwaw, 
I  am  a  hero !  The  invaders,  however,  also  sustained  painful  losses, 
Damaram,  Gyamedua,  nephew  of  Firempong,  and  several  others 
being  killed,  and  3'et  Akwamu  iiad  not  been  defeated.  But  the  in- 
vaders had  also  captured  many  prisoners  and  large  spoil.  Oduro 
Tibo  founded  the  town  Barakwa  with  the  prisoners  he  obtained, 
and  got  a  horn  in  acknowledgment  of  his  services  from  Firempong, 
which  is  blown  ''Oduro  Tibo  e,  meda  wo  aseawusio!"  Pobi  Aso- 
manin  succeeded  Damaram,  and  both  he  and  Firempong  retired 
from  the  held  to  Akem. 

The  Governor  of  Christiansborg  at  that  time  was  illiterate,  a 
sailor  by  profession.  He  did  not  care  much  about  any  trade  ex- 
cept watch  repairs  and  the  like,  and  had  quarrels  all  the  time  with 
the  people  of  Christiansborg,  who  on  that  account  traded  chiefly 
with  the  Dutch  merchants  at  Akra.  When  any  of  his  officers  was 
caught  by  them,  they  sold  him  to  the  merchants  at  Akra.  Some- 
times he  loaded  the  guns  with  stones  and  lired  into  the  town.  He 
iiad  even  made  a  statue  of  himself,  of  wax,  which  he  placed  on 
the  wall  of  the  Fort.  The  people,  on  seeing  that,  imagining  it  was 
himself,  fired  guns  at  it;  at  last  he  set  the  town  on  fire.  This 
brought  Akwanno  down  to  the  coast,  who  settled  the  dispute  be- 
tween the  governor  and  his  subjects  and  got  large  presents  for  it. 
Keeping  ill-feelings  against  the  Dutch  merchants  at  Akra  for  in- 
stigating   his   subjects    of  Christiansborg    to    trade   with  them   and 


Chapter  VJ.  79 

also  <ight  with  him,  the  governor  told  Akwanno  to  attack  Akra 
again.  The  king  returned  to  Akwamu  and  sent  1000  armed  men 
to  invite  the  governor  to  his  capital.  The  Datch  Governor,  suspect- 
ing a  trick,  sent  order  to  Elniina  for  arms,  ammunition,  provisions 
and  gunners,  and  prepared  for  the  expected  attack  of  the  Akwamus. 
He  advised  the  people  of  Akra,  to  send  down  those  who  would  be 
unable  to  fight,  and  some  women  and  children  to  Little  Popo.  This 
was  the  third  emigration  of  tiie  Akras   to  that  place. 

In  .January  1733  Akwanno  invested  Akra.  The  siege  went  on 
during  four  months,  and  caused  a  frightful  famine  in  the  town,  the 
number  of  deaths  occasioned  by  hunger  exceeded  those  slain  in 
the  war.  This  induced  king-  Ayikuma  Tieko  of  Akra  to  send  two 
of  his  chiefs,  Okai  Paemseyeko  I.,  Amo  Nakawa  I.,  and  Ama  Safe, 
with  the  royal  necklace  of  precious  beads,  the  pay-note,  the  national 
state-cane  Asempayetia  and  the  golden  crown  of  the  late  king-  Okai 
Koi  with  several  presents  to  Akem,  to  ask  the  aid  of  the  three 
kings :  Ba  Kwante,  Firempong  Manso  of  Akem-Kotoku  and  Owusu 
Akem.  The  ambassadors  had  to  make  their  way  via  Coast  Bere- 
ku  and  after  a  circuitous  walk  of  two  months  they  reached  Akem. 
The  Dutch  Government  also  sent  arms  and  ammunition  by  an 
otiicer  to  the  kings,  for  which  Ayai  (Tete  Ahene  Akwa)  a  son^ 
and  Okaidsha,  a  nephew  of  the  king,  were  given  as  security.  The 
ammunition  was  packed,  as  is  reported,  in  fishing  baskets,  to  pre- 
vent detection  by  the  Akwamus.  Amo  Nakawa  easily  induced 
the  Obutus  and  Agonas  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  AkwaiMU. 
The  kings  gave  their  consent  to  assist  the  Akras,  but  being  at  war 
with  the  Asantes,  and  for  the  safety  of  their  wives  and  children, 
they  made  a  treaty  with  Opoku  Ware,  not  to  come  behind  them. 
Of  course,  they  only  told  Opoku  that  they  were  going  to  demand 
a  certain  tribute  from  Akwamu,  which  they  had  refused  to  pay  ; 
but  he  did  not  know  that  they  had  been  hired.  The  king  of  Asante 
allowed  them  five  mouths  time  to  return,  on  condition  to  pay  him 
r)00  men  for  the  permission  granted. 

He  knew  that  they  could  not  stand  the  power  of  Akwamu,  and 
if  weakened  by  them,  he  might  easily  conquer  them  himself.  But 
Akwamu  was  ripe  for  judgment  lor  all  their  wicked  deeds !  Forty 
grains  of  corn  were  given  to  the  ambassadors  to  tell  the  king,^ 
that  every  day  one  grain  had  to  be  taken  from  the  number,  and 
that,  as  soon  as  the  grains  were  finished,  the  Akras  should  know,, 
that  they  were  upon  their  enemy. 


80  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  A  saute. 

About  the  month  of  June,  a  few  days  after  the  ambassadors  had 
been  sent  home,  the  Akems  started,  which  obliged  Akwanno  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Akra.  After  a  sharp  contest  with  the  combined 
forces  of  Akem,  Akra  and  Akuapem,  Akwamu  was  defeated  and 
a  large  number  of  prisoners  was  taken.  Their  women  and  chil- 
dren, never  expecting  a  defeat,  were  not  prepared  for  fleeing,  and 
all  at  once  they  came  upon  them.  As  the  rainy  season  had  set 
in,  the.y  surrendered  themselves  to  their  enemies.  Thus  was  A- 
kwamu  driven  from  the  Akem-Peak  to  the  banks  beyond  the  Volta. 
In  their  precipitation  the  Akwamus  hid  all  their  gold  in  the  ground 
and  marked  the  places  with  daggers  and  the  like.  These  hidden 
treasures  are  occasionally  discovered  by  Akuapem  and  Akem  farmers. 

There  seems  to  have  been  a  cessation  of  hostilities  after  the  cap- 
ture of  both  Boadu  and  Amanya  Kwaw,  the  chief  and  the  general 
of  Akwamu,  before  their  entire  expulsion.  The  war  being  carried 
on  in  the  bush,  the  Akwamus  did  not  know  the  cause  of  it;  but 
when  they  got  to  know  that  it  was  done  by  the  instigation  of  the 
Akras,  they  suddenly  and  violently  attacked  the  Akras.  The  A- 
kems  having  retired  for  awhile,  the  Akras  alone  could  not  stand 
them,  and  so  they  were  driven  for  the  fourth  time  to  Little  Popo. 
Ayikunia  Tieko  having  died,  Ofori  Tibo  was  then  the  king  of  Akra, 
Ama  Wusu  Ahyia,  chief  of  Gbese,  Ni  Tshie,  chief  of  Teshi,  who 
being  an  elder  cousin  to  the  king  and  chief  of  Akra,  was  the  chief- 
leader  of  the  refugees  to  Popo.  Chief  Otu  Ahyiakwa  and  his  war- 
riors having  been  annihilated  in  his  expedition  in  aid  of  the  Dutch 
Government  against  the  Commendas  in  1694,  Amo  Nakawa  I.  was 
made  to  succeed  him.  He  died  during  the  flight  of  the  Akras  to 
Popo.  Nl  Tshie  and  Dako,  the  son  of  the  deceased,  ordered  his 
remains  to  be  carried  during  the  whole  time.  In  crossing  the  Volta 
first  with  the  remains  of  Amo,  the  Angulas  tried  to  resist  them, 
but  they  were  easily  driven  back,  and  being  no  more  molested,  they 
reached  Popo  safely. 

Owusu  Akcni,  having  heard  of  what  his  friends  had  suffered 
from  their  enemy,  came  upon  the  Akwamus  at  once  and  drove 
them  clean  from  the  country,  pursuing  them  along  the  stream  Nsaki 
to  Gyakiti  on  the  bank  of  the  Volta.  In  their  flight  a  number  of 
bush-hogs  were  roused  and  crossed  the  Volta,  which  encouraged 
the  fugitive  Akwamus  to  cross  on  the  same  fordable  path  of  the 
river;  hence  bush-hogs  became  sacred  animals  to  the  Akwamus 
[i.e.  wild  hogs  are  not  eaten  by  them]. 


Chapter  VI.  81 

Having  crossed,  they  sought  an  asylum  in  the  country  of  the 
king  of  Botoku  in  Krepe.  The  king  of  Botoku  assured  the  Akwa- 
mus  that  he  could  afford  them  protection,  and  that  Owusu  Akem 
and  his  army  were  nothing  to  him.  He  ordered  all  his  Krepe 
subjects  to  get  under  arms  and  array  themselves  for  their  defence. 
Although  they  v^^ere  numerous,  yet  the  Akwamus  could  not  con- 
fide in  their  being  able  to  protect  them.  After  a  week  only,  the 
Akems  arrived  and  gave  them  a  battle.  Numerous  prisoners  were 
taken  by  the  Akems,  among  whom  was  the  king  of  Botoku  him- 
self; the  Akwamus  escaped  to  Pekipong.  By  the  rising  of  the 
dust  one  day  Owusu  Akem  perceived  that  the  Akwamus  were 
marching  from  Pekipong  towards  the  south,  which  made  him  sup- 
pose that  they  were  on  the  way  to  attack  the  Akras  who  had 
taken  refuge  at  Little  Popo ;  he  accordingly  ordered  a  march  be- 
hind them.  The  Akras  were  attacked  by  the  Akwamus  at  their 
place  of  refuge,  but  under  the  command  of  the  old  Nl  Tshie,  they 
furiously  resisted  for  a  whole  day.  The  fighting  took  place  the 
next  day  again,  which  might  have  finished  up  the  poor  refugees ; 
but  all  on  a  sudden,  their  old  friend  and  benefactor  Owusu  Akem 
arrived  with  his  brave  Akems.  Being  out-numbered  and  out-flanked, 
the  Akwamus  were  utterly  routed;  king  Akwanno  Kuma  was  caught 
and  beheaded  by  old  NT  Tshie.  Their  scattered  remnant  sought 
refuge  in  Hwatshi,  some  in  Tshiriamim,  and  the  rest  gradually 
came  back  to  Krepe.  At  that  time  Okansa,  the  king  of  Asabi, 
ruled  over  all  Krepe.  They  fought  with  him  and  conquered  the 
country.  They  drove  the  Nkonyas  from  their  country  and  founded 
their  town  Akwamu  on  the  site  it  occupies  to  this  day.  Owusu 
Akem  advised  Nl  Tshie  to  lead  the  Akras  back  home,  that  they 
might  obtain  salt  and  all  necessaries  of  life  from  the  coast  by  them. 
Thus  encouraged  they  returned  home. 

The  byname  of  Mansai  in  Krepe  was  "Mansai  Peteprebi,  Okum 
Akem"  which  means  "The  invincible  Mansai  who  conquered  Akem". 
That  small  Krepe  force  could  never  be  able  to  conquer  the  power- 
ful Akem  force  under  their  brave  king  Owusu.  The  fact  was  this, 
the  king  knowing  to  have  got  permission  for  five  months  from 
Opoku  to  carry  on  war  with  Akwamu,  whom  he  had  driven  from 
Nyanawase  to  Krepe  and  utterly  routed,  was  obliged  to  hasten 
back  to  Akem,  in  order  that  the  king  of  Asante  might  not  get  an 
opportunity  to  attack  his  country  in  his  absence,  as  not  keeping 
to   the  five  months   permission   granted.     Hence   on   his   hastening 

6 


82  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

homeward  with  very  numerous  Krepe  and  Akwamu  captives,  Man- 
sai  people  attacked  liis  forces,  yet  he  did  not  choose  to  return  the 
fire,  but  marched  on;  hence  they  imagined  to  have  driven  the  A- 
kems.  They,  however,  got  a  troph}'^  consisting  of  a  royal  drum 
and  three  large  ivory  horns  in  their  possession  from  the  king  of 
Akem,  which  they  captured  at  that  time,  and  which  they  give  as 
a  proof  of  the  superiority  of  their  force  over  that  of  the  Akems. 

The  old  enemy  had  been  cleared  off;  the  Akems  now  proposed 
to  storm  the  fort  of  Christiansborg.  But  the  governor,  hearing  of 
it,  sent  a  large  present  to  pacify  them.  Yet  they  were  not  satis- 
fied by  it,  but  persisted  upon  coming  upon  him.  Unfortunately 
there  was  no  ammunition  in  the  castle;  however,  all  his  subjects 
took  refuge  inside.  A  fetish  priest,  as  is  reported,  proclaimed  that 
the  Danes  were  God's  children;  if  they  were  slain,  the  world  would 
turn  upside  down.  The  Akras,  not  believing  the  oracle  of  the  priest, 
wanted  to  march  to  Christiansborg.  But  they  were  after  all  cooled 
down  by  the  declaration  that  the  high  fetish,  to  punish  them  for 
disobeying  his  orders,  had  quitted  Akra  and  gone  to  reside  at  La- 
bade  with  Lakpa.  Yet  40  men  were  caught  among  those  who  could 
not  reach  the  fort  in  time  from  Labade. 

1733—1742.  The  reign  of  the  three  kings  of  Akem,  Ba  Kwante, 
Firempong  Manso  and  Owusu  Akem.  Numerous  prisoners  having 
been  obtained  by  the  Akems  and  their  allies,  500  of  them  were 
paid  to  Opoku.  The  Akems  neither  sold  nor  killed  their  prisoners, 
as  the  Akwamus  used  to  do,  but  retained  and  naturalized  them; 
hence  after  some  years  they  forgot  their  country. 

They  got  the  trade  on  the  coast  into  their  hands,  and  were  in- 
trusted with  the  protection  of  the  Forts.  Firempong  had  charge 
of  Christiansborg,  Ba  Kwante,  of  Crevecoeur  and  .James  Fort.  B'irem- 
pong  therefore  shaved  his  hair  and  put  it  with  eight  ounces  of  gold 
into  the  foundation  of  that  part  of  the  Fort  which  was  then  built. 
As  protector  he  received  a  stipend  of  32  ^  per  month  from  the 
Danish  Government.  All  the  trade  with  the  Danish  merchants 
was  placed  in  his  hands.  But  he  had  never  seen  a  white  man; 
the  reports  he  used  to  hear  from  traders,  especially  the  Akwamus, 
were  that  the  Europeans  are  a  kind  of  sea-creatures.  He  there- 
fore expressed  his  desire  of  seeing  a  European,  and  Mr.  Nicolas 
Kamp,  the  book-keeper,  was  commissioned  to  Da,  the  capital  of 
the  Kotokus,  to  be  seen  by  the  king.  A  grand  meeting  was  held 
for  his  reception.     In  saluting  the  assembly,  Mr.  Kamp  approached 


Chapter  VI.  83 

the  king,  took  off  his  hat,  and  when  bowing  to  salute  him,  he 
thought  he  was  an  animal  who  would  jump  upon  him.  The  king 
fell  down  flat  from  his  stool,  and  cried  loudly  for  his  wives  to 
assist  him.  The  drummer  Adam  Malm,  whose  native  name  was 
Kwabena  Njankum,  and  Noi  Afadi,  the  government  interpreter, 
did  their  utmost  to  convince  the  poor  king  that  Mr.  Kamp  was  a 
human  being,  and  that  his  movements  were  the  mode  of  Europeans 
in  paying  their  respect  to  superiors.  The  king  got  up  from  the 
ground  and  sat  on  the  stool,  ordered  his  wives  to  sit  between  him 
and  the  European  and  his  men.  By  this  he  could  cool  down  his 
fears.  Upon  seeing  the  cue,  i.e.  a  tail-like  twist  of  hair  hanging 
down  the  back  of  Mr.  Kamp  (as  people  were  then  in  the  habit  of 
wearing  as  the  Chinese  do  now-a-days),  he  said,  ''Dear  me,  all 
animals  have  their  tails  at  the  extremity  of  the  trunk,  but  Euro- 
peans have  theirs  at  the  back  of  their  heads!"  The  interpreters 
explained  to  him  that  it  was  no  tail,  but  hairs  so  twisted.  All  this 
while  the  king's  wives  were  watching  every  movement  of  Mr.  Kamp 
to  know  whether  he  was  a  man  or  an  animal.  Not  being  satisfied 
yet  with  all  he  had  seen,  the  king  requested  Mr.  Kamp  to  take  off 
his  clothes,  which  he  declined  to  do,  saying  he  might  do  so  at  home, 
when  no  lady  was  present.  The  meeting  retired  and  Mr.  Kamp 
went  to  his  quarters,  where  a  table  was  prepared  for  him.  During 
the  repast  the  king's  wives  stood  by  peeping  at  him ;  some  said, 
'"'He  eats  like  a  man,  really  he  is  a  human  being!"  After  all 
Mr.  Kamp  took  off  his  clothes  before  old  Firempong,  who  now 
could  touch  him,  when  he  said,  "Ah,  you  are  really  a  human 
being,  but  only  too  white,  like  a  devil!"  Another  meeting  was 
held;  after  the  king  had  satisfied  himself  by  a  touch,  and  every 
arrangement  having  been  made,  Mr.  Kamp  got  a  present  of  two 
slaves  and  returned  to  the  coast.  This  mission  revived  the  com- 
merce with  Da  and  Akem ;  and  they  traded  very  briskly  in  pure 
gold  dust,  not  like  that  which  had  been  mixed  up  by  the  Akwamus. 
When  sufficient  goods  were  in  store,  1  or  2000  dollars  worth  of 
wares  could  be  sold  in  a  day.  They  were  very  fond  of  the  real 
Danish  guns,  seven  for  32  i\  those  from  Holland,  ten,  and  the  Eng- 
lish, twelve  for  .32  ^,  and  the  traders  came  by  2000  at  a  time. 

Opoku  Ware  became  envious  of  the  success  of  Akem,  who  had 
now  the  whole  trade  in  their  hands,  besides  the  numerous  Akwamu 
captives  they  had  naturalized.  Fie  began  to  think  of  measures 
whereby  to  crush  them  down  ere  they  became  more  powerful  than 

6* 


84  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante, 

himself.  Ba  Kwante  about  1702,  while  still  young,  had  been  taken 
as  prisoner  of  war  to  Asante,  but  ransomed  by  payinj^  1000  ounces 
of  gold.  Opoku,  however,  called  him  his  vassal,  although  he  had 
been  redeemed.  Under  pretext,  Opoku  sent  ambassadors  to  Akem 
to  tell  Ba  how  lenient  he  was  in  not  attacking  them  when  making 
war  with  Akwamu,  he  therefore  wished  them  to  declare  themselves 
his  tributaries.  His  friend  Firempong  having  died  in  1741,  and  his 
cousin  Ampim  having  succeeded  him  on  the  stool  of  Da,  there  was 
no  obstacle  in  his  way  to  declare  war  against  Akem. 

Ba  was  too  fond  of  drink,  especially  the  Danish  liquor,  which  he 
used  very  freely  with  his  chiefs,  20  ankers  every  month.  Of  all 
Akem  kings,  he  alone  was  as  much  given  to  drink  as  the  kings 
of  Akwamu.  Being  under  the  influence  of  liquor,  he  told  the  am- 
bassadors of  Opoku  that  their  master  should  be  careful,  otherwise 
he  would  cut  off  his  head  and  the  heads  of  his  chiefs  and  hang- 
them  at  his  drums !  Upon  this,  war  was  declared.  Owusu  Akem 
proposed  to  Ba,  that  they  had  better  remove  to  Krepe  and  allow 
their  armies  to  carry  on  skirmishes  alone  with  Asante  till  they 
weary  them.  But  Ba  objected  to  it.  If  Owusu  alone  had  been  the 
king  of  Akem  at  that  time,  he  would  have  known  how  to  deal 
with  the  Asantes. 

The  Akems  had  not  only  the  trade  on  the  coast  and  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Forts  in  their  power,  but  also  a  sort  of  jurisdiction 
on  the  coast.  The  Akras  were  not  very  willing  to  submit  to  them, 
especially  when  violating  their  religious  days.  A  scoffing  song 
against  king  Ofori  was:  '^Ofori  Shadsho,  you  have  a  hoelike  rump, 
beware,  when  fetish-wheats  are  planted,  no  horn  should  be  blown!" 
The  Dutch  government,  however,  acknowledged  Lete  Boi  (Boi  Tono) 
as  the  Akra  king;  what  the,y  marked  on  his  state-cane  was:  "Akra- 
ese  coning  Liitte  boy :  A.  D.  1734."  This  was  the  j^ear  when  the 
Akwamus  were  expelled.  The  jurisdiction  of  the  Akems  lasted  but 
a  short  time,  from  1733  to  1742;  hence  they  could  not  establish 
their  power  on  the  coast. 

When  preparing  to  meet  the  Asantes,  the  Akems  asked  the  as- 
sistance of  Akra,  Akuapem,  and  Adangme  as  their  friends  and  allies. 
But  only  chief  Dako  Panyin  of  Otu-street  in  Dutch  Akra,  with 
his  own  people  and  few  Akras,  and  a  small  force  from  Akuapem 
went  to  their  aid.  The  king  of  Agyumanko  was  asked  by  Ampim 
to  assist  them.  He  sent  his  nephew  Ampoma  with  the  women  and 
children  of  Da  to  Otabi,  king  of  Asafo  Dankera  in  Fante,  for  pro- 


Chapter  VI.  85 

tectioii.  Opoku  had  also  hired  some  Faiites  and  had  some  Hausa 
warriors  to  assist  him.  During-  the  later  part  of  1741  some  skir- 
mishes were  carried  on  at  Ahantang-;  there  the  king  of  Agyumanko, 
Firempong's  nephew  Dwawere,  and  Kwaku  Moteng,  captain  of  the 
Apagyafo  (the  fire-striking  band),  were  slain.  Anipim  fled  and  took 
an  asylum  by  Takwa  Dako  of  Takwa  Kyiase.  But  Dako  betrayed 
the  king,  and  he  was  attacked  and  killed.  His  nephew  Kwahene 
Broni  succeeded  him.  Another  engagement  took  place  at  Amantara 
Tebeso,  and  Kwahene  was  captured,  but  was  made  free  and  died 
shortly  after  that.  Gyaberenkum,  his  successor,  reigned  only  one 
year  and  40  days,  and  was  succeeded  by  Karikari  Apaw.  Chief 
Dako  also  lost  most  of  his  people  at  the  same  place,  which  became 
the  oath  "Ahantang  of  Otu-street  in  Akra." 

But  two  bloody  battles  were  fought  in  1742,  near  the  river  Benna. 
The  Akems  were  numerous  and  fought  with  great  determination, 
kept  the  enemy  at  bay  for  a  long  time  and  the  battle  was  inde- 
cisive. The  loss  was  considerable  on  both  sides,  and  the  Akems 
might  have  gained  the  day;  but  it  being  the  rainy  season,  the  fire- 
arms on  both  sides  could  not  be  used,  whilst  the  Hausa  warriors 
resorted  to  their  bows,  and  gained  the  day  for  the  Asantes  at  the 
third  engagement.  Owusu  Akem  having  received  25  wounds  fell 
on  the  field  of  battle,  which  caused  his  chiefs  and  generals  to  shoot 
themselves  on  the  spot.  Karikari  Apaw  also  fell,  and  his  generals 
did  the  same.  Ba  committed  suicide  during  the  night,  and  his  chiefs, 
generals  and  warriors  followed  his  example.  Thousands  of  the  brave 
Akem  warriors  were  lying  slain  in  heaps  around  their  dead  kings. 
Thus  the  way  was  obtained  bj'  the  Asantes  to  capture  4000  pri- 
soners, and  Akem  became  a  tributary  state.  The  women  and  chil- 
dren of  Da,  sent  to  the  care  of  king  Otabi,  were  also  betrayed  to 
the  Asantes.  After  the  conquest  they  went  over  to  Fante  and 
shared  the  prisoners  with  Otabi  and  his  subjects.  Prince  Ampoma 
being  among  the  prisoners  was  sold,  but  fortunately  one  Perese  of 
Otbsu  Ansa  in  Asikuma  redeemed  him  for  ten  oz.  He  brought  him 
home  to  the  royal  family  and  was  paid  60  oz.  Tradition  says  that 
the  survivors  of  the  royal  family  buried  the  heads  of  their  kings, 
with  the  whole  treasury  of  the  kingdom  in  a  large  grave  in  the 
bed  of  a  turned  off  stream,  which  they  turned  back  again,  to  cover 
the  grave.  The  Asantes  searched  in  vain  for  the  heads  of  the 
fallen  kings.  Had  the  whole  Akra,  Akuapem  and  Adangme  forces 
combined  with  Akem,  the  Asantes  could  have  been  conquered  then 
and  there.     But  their  time  was  to  come ! 


86  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Opoku  Ware  was  putting  the  conquered  country  in  order,  when 
a  very  sad  account  reached  him  from  Kumase  to  say  that  Abiri- 
moro,  the  king  of  Safwi  and  Wasa,  had  invaded  Kumase  and  se- 
veral towns,  and  had  destroyed  the  towns  and  killed  all  the  royal 
family.  They  pounded  the  royal  family  in  large  wooden  mortars! 
Upon  receiving  this  sad  intelligence,  the  king  commissioned  Osei 
Afweree  of  Dwaben  to  get  the  fine  of  1000  peredwans  each  from 
the  Abuakwas  and  Kotokus  and  to  place  new  kings  on  the  stools, 
appointing  at  the  same  time  Nsuta  Amankwa,  Owusu  Sekyere  of 
Mampong  and  Komawu  Basewa  to  assist  Osei  Afweree  in  that  im- 
portant mission.  With  Bekwai  Poku  and  Kokofu  Brayie  the  king 
started  from  camp  in  forced  marches  to  pursue  the  invaders.  At  Ko- 
rowadaso  they  were  overtaken,  attacked,  and  completely  routed.  He 
proceeded  to  the  capital  and  destroyed  it.  King  Oburam  Ankama 
as  well  as  Abirimoro  were  taken  prisoners  and  beheaded.  One  thou- 
sand prisoners  of  Safwi  were  sacrificed  in  honour  of  those  royal 
personages  they  had  massacred.  One  of  the  princesses  was  Akyi- 
awa  Kese  of  Dwaben.  She  was  not  killed,  but  carried  away  pris- 
oner to  Safwi.  After  the  elapse  of  some  years,  she  was  brought 
home  by  a  trader,  to  whom  large  presents  were  given  for  that  act, 
and  whose  family  was  for  ever  exempted  from  being  killed  in  A- 
sante.  Otim  Nketiawa  and  Aberefi  were  the  only  female  survivors 
of  the  whole  family.  By  them  the  royal  family  was  again  increased. 
Opoku  Ware  returned  to  Kumase  with  large  spoil  and  numerous 
prisoners.  Nantwi  was  commissioned  to  inform  Osei  Afweree  and 
others  in  Akem  camp,  how  the  invaders  had  been  treated,  and  that 
the  Kotokus  must  be  forced  to  remove  from  Da  and  settle  over  the 
Pra.  Pobi  Asomanin  was  placed  on  the  Abuakwa  stool  and  left  in 
Akem,  after  the  fine  of  1000  peredwans  had  been  paid;  although  the 
amount  was  1000,  yet  3000  peredwans  were  paid.  Obeng  w^as  made 
to  succeed  Karikari  Apaw  and  also  paid  3000  peredwans,  after  the 
32  gold-hilted  swords  and  the  offering  sword  of  Apaw  had  been 
plundered  by  them.  Obeng  and  his  people  were  forced  to  cross 
the  Pra  and  settled  by  one  Opong,  who  sold  a  piece  of  land  to  the 
king  for  30  peredwans,  on  which  Dampong,  the  fifth  Kotoku  capi- 
tal, was  built.  Dampong  means  dependig  on  Opong,  the  owner 
of  that  place.  Having  settled  the  Kotokus,  Osei  Afweree  and  his 
co-commissioners  and  their  forces  were  marching  back  to  Kumase, 
when  four  sharp-shooters  of  Kotoku  were  ordered  to  lay  an  ambush 
by  the  river  Kwadutwum,  and  Osei  Afweree  was  shot  and  killed; 
hence  the  Dwaben  dreadful  oath  —  Kwadutwum. 


Chapter  VI  87 

Opoku,  knowing  that  Karikari  Apaw  was  forbidden  by  his  fetish 
the  use  of  snails,  ordered  a  gold  snail  to  be  made  on  his  offering 
sword,  while  Kankam  was  appointed  its  bearer.  On  account  of 
this  conquest  the  kings  of  Asante  are  generally  extolled:  ^'Owusu 
Akyem  antumi  amnio  wo  kyem  so";  ''Bakwante  ne  wo  nni  nkra'' 
=  Owusu  Akem  could  never  strike  on  your  shield;  Bakwante  did 
not  take  leave  of  3'ou  [or:  B.  and  you  have  no  communion]. 

Among  the  4000  prisoners  was  a  prince,  the  heir  to  the  stool  of 
Akwamu,  who  was  not  known  to  be  such,  till  nine  years  later. 
Opoku  Ware  thereupon  treated  him  very  kindly,  gave  him  many 
presents  and  sent  him  back  to  Akwamu  with  the  name  Opoku 
Akoa  (Opoku's  slave).  As  there  was  then  no  right  heir  to  the 
stool,  he  then  and  there  was  made  king,  and  therefore  changed  his 
name  for  Opoku  Kuma.  The  king  was  annoyed  on  hearing  that 
his  vassal  had  changed  the  name  given  to  him,  so  ambassadors 
were  sent  to  ask  him  why  he  did  so  ?  His  reply  was,  ''If  I  were 
called  Opoku  Akoa,  I  should  lose  my  influence  on  my  subjects." 
A  tine  of  100  slaves  was  imposed  upon  him,  and  his  people  re- 
fusing to  pay  the  fine,  he  administered  an  oath  to  the  young  men 
of  his  capital,  after  he  had  got  them  drunk,  and  in  one  night,  he 
attacked  some  of  his  own  subjects,  caught  100  prisoners,  and  the 
fine  was  paid.  In  one  of  the  inroads  of  king  Pobi  Asomanin  of 
Akem  against  Akwamu,  Opoku  Kuma  and  Agyam  were  killed. 

After  these  conquests  Abo,  the  king  of  Gyaman,  was  also  de- 
manded to  return  back  to  his  people  at  Odomara,  but  refused  to 
comply.  Opoku  therefore  marched  to  Bontuku,  its  capital,  and  made 
it  tributarj'  to  Asante.  Numerous  refugees  having  fled  to  Kong, 
Opoku  marched  his  army  to  the  capital,  where  they  arrived  after 
three  months'  travelling.  They  never  expected  that  there  was  such 
a  large  town  in  the  world.  For  the  whole  army  appeared  in  the 
town  as  a  handful  of  men,  so  they  were  frightened.  Yet  they 
forced  themselves  to  keep  courage  and  to  deal  with  the  Queen 
mother,  whose  son  had  gone  out  to  war.  The  old  queen  thanked 
her  stars  that  Opoku  was  so  fortunate  to  have  come  in  the  king's 
absence,  otherwise  his  whole  army  would  be  swallowed  up.  She 
amicably  returned  500  refugees  to  him  and  made  some  valuable 
presents  thereto.  Opoku  also  presented  her  with  100  of  the  cap- 
tives and  named  her  "Aberewa  Poku",  a  name  she  delighted  to 
be  called  by.  After  this  the  king  hastened  his  march  from  such  a 
large  capital   to  Gyaman,   and   Kofi  Sono  Ampem  was  made   king 


88  History  of'  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

of  the  place,  after  which  Opoku  returned  home.  The  new  king-  of 
Gyaman  repaired  the  delapidated  kingdom  and  kept  peace  with 
Asante  till  the  time  of  Adinkra. 

Asen  failing  to  pay  tribute,  he  ravaged  it  with  fire  and  sword. 
Tshuforo  next  fell  a  prey  to  his  ambition,  and  Wasa  and  Fante 
acknowledged  his  superiority. 

As  already  remarked  above,  Opoku  Ware  was  during  the  whole 
of  his  reign  engaged  in  completing  and  consolidating  the  conquests 
of  his  predecessor  in  the  North  and  North  East  countries.  The 
Nta  country  was  then  governed  by  the  king  of  Yebo,  a  nominal 
province  to  Mampong.  Thence  coarse  woolen  blankets  for  baskets, 
silk  cloth,  &c.  were  brought  for  sale  to  Asante.  Owusu  Sekyere 
of  Mampong,  who  had  the  charge  of  that  province,  despatched  mes- 
sengers there  to  levy  men  for  him  to  offer  them  as  sacrifice  in  honor 
of  his  late  father.  But  the  king  of  Yebo  did  not  allow  the  mes- 
sengers to  do  it.  Therefore  Owusu  Sekyere  consulted  the  king, 
and  forthwith  war  was  declared  against  the  Ntas.  The  warlike  0- 
poku  embraced  the  opportunity,  marched  an  army  and  conquered 
the  whole  country.  Some  refugees  having  escaped  to  Yane,  capital 
of  Dagbama,  Okuru  Karikari,  the  king  of  the  place,  was  attacked, 
but  unwilling  to  fight,  easily  submitted  after  a  short  struggle  in 
which  Koranten  Pete  I.,  commander  of  the  Asante  van,  fell  at  Sabe. 
As  the  king  of  Yane  had  submitted,  a  fine  of  3000  slaves  was 
claimed  from  him,  in  payment  of  which  Okuru  wisely  included 
1000  Yebo  refugees. 

The  king  of  Namonsi  at  Mimira  was  asked  to  submit ;  refusing 
to  do  so,  he  was  attacked  and  defeated.  King  Akarasi  1.  of  Dwaben 
got  the  charge  of  that  province,  while  Yane  was  given  in  charge 
of  Koranten  Pete  II.  The  king  of  Krupi  was  also  asked  to  submit- 
refusing  he  was  captured  alive  after  a  short  struggle.  Owusu  Se- 
kyere got  charge  of  this  place.  The  camp  being  fixed  here,  Opoku 
Ware  demanded  from  Osubri,  the  king  of  the  Ntshummurus,  who 
resided  in  Basa,  whether  he  would  quietly  submit?  Because  Osu- 
bri very  often  disturbed  the  trade  carrying  on  then  at  Krupi  mar- 
ket by  seizing  and  killing  Asante  and  Hausa  traders  coming  there. 
Osubri  not  submitting,  Akarasi  I.  of  Dwaben  was  commanded,  being 
joined  by  a  detachment  of  the  king,  to  give  him  battle.  Osubri 
was  caught  alive,  and  his  arin^^  dispersed  after  three  days'  fight; 
numerous  prisoners  were  taken,  but  most  of  the  fugitives  fled  to 
Karakye,  seeking  protection    from  Odente,   the  far-famed  fetish  of 


Chapter   VI.  89 

the  place.  The  king  despatched  his  son,  prince  Adu  Kwanfeni,  and 
Konadu  Amim,  and  linguist  Damang  Safe  of  Dwaben  to  demand 
the  delivery  of  those  refugees  from  Odente,  who  told  the  messengers, 
that  he  would  never  have  a  quarrel  with  the  king,  but  was  under 
him;  the  refugees  must  be  given  back.  This  brought  Odente  into 
connection  with  Asante,  but  chiefly  with  Dwaben,  to  which  pro- 
vince Karakye  was  attached.  After  the  war  four  chiefs  were  brought 
to  Krupi,  took  fetish-oath  and  paid  1000  men,  who  were  given  to 
Akarasi,  and  were  shared  by  him  and  Damang  Safo.  Adubron, 
a  quarter  in  Dwaben,  was  made  up  with  these  prisoners.  The 
rest  of  the  refugees,  the  king  allowed  Odente  to  claim  for  himself. 
Only  two  towns,  Badshamso  and  Akaneem,  the  king  ordered  to 
provide  provision  every  year.  Osubri  was  sent  to  Kumase  to  be 
under  arrest  till  the  campaign  was  over;  the  figure  of  a  raven  was 
on  the  top  of  his  state-umbrella. 

The  camp  was  broken  and  the  army  crossed  the  Volta  to  Ye- 
dshi.  Atalafiram  was  the  king  of  the  place,  who,  unable  to  fight, 
easily  submitted.  They  were  added  to  the  king's  basket-carriers 
and  were  fined  for  100  men,  and  the  horns  of  Atalafiram  were  given 
to  Nsuta  Amankwa.  The  Guans  at  Prai  were  attacked  and  sub- 
dued, and  were  given  in  charge  of  Pampaso  Afireyie.  King  Akotre- 
fenim  ofKomawu  was  ordered  to  give  battle  to  Diako,  king  of  the 
Guan-nation,  but  was  driven  back,  so  Diako  encamped  at  Pae.  O- 
diawuo  of  Kwawu  was  ordered  to  assist  Akotrefenim  to  conquer 
them,  but  crossing  the  Volta,  they  fled  and  emigrated  to  Krepe 
country  under  king  Dako  of  Asabi.  (They  are  supposed  to  be  people 
of  Pekipong,  Pareman,  Tosen,  Peki  and  Tongo.)  As  Akotrefenim 
had  failed  to  conquer  the  Guan-tribes,  no  province  was  given  to 
him,  but  their  land.  On  that  account  he  was  fined  300  peredwans 
and  forced  to  abdicate.  Okyere  Barafo  succeeded  him.  —  Agyei 
Badu  and  Akuamua  Panyin  of  Dwaben  were  Okyere  Barafo's  chil- 
dren. The  army  now  crossed  the  river  Prow  (Buro),  and  Dawia, 
the  king  of  Atabuobu,  was  asked  to  submit;  not  willing  to  do  so, 
the  king's  bodj^-guard  of  Abohyeii  and  Oyoko  under  Asaman  Ankra, 
Kany erase  Okyere,  Mamponten  Kagya  and  Ahenkuro  Sei  were 
ordered  to  give  him  battle.  Dawia  fell  and  his  people  were  sub- 
dued and  given  to  the  charge  of  Ankra.  Kwame  Kyere,  Dawia's 
nephew,  was  placed  on  the  stool.  The  king  crossed  the  River  Prow, 
met  his  body-guard  there  and  commanded  them  to  march  home- 
ward, having  subdued  and  brought  under  his  kingdom  a  large  terri- 


90  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

tory,  and  obtained  prisoners  by  thousands.  But  before  breaking 
the  camp,  Nsuta  Amankwa  was  ordered  to  attack  Oduroman,  His 
brother  Oduro  fell  in  the  attack,  hence  the  Nsuta  oath  "Oduroman". 
They  were  subdued  and  given  in  charge  of  Amankwa,  but  those 
who  escaped  fled  to  Krepe;  they  are  the  people  of  Owusuta  and 
have  ever  since  been  subject  to  Nsuta. 

The  people  of  Daboya  and  Bona  negotiated  for  peace,  paid  300 
persons  and  swore  allegiance  to  the  king. 

The  army  now  resumed  its  march  in  triumph  home,  having  cap- 
tured Osubri,  Dawia  and  the  king  of  Krupi. 

Not  long  after  this  conquest  Opoku,  who  had  extended  the  Asante 
kingdom  more  than  any  of  his  predecessors  or  any  of  his  successors, 
died  in  1749.*) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Origin  of  the  inhabitants  of  Akuapem  and  its  formation  into  an  inde- 
pendent state  by  the  Deputy  Prince  Salbri  of  Akem. —  Of  the  eight 
successors  after  him  to  the  reign  of  Obuobi  Atiemo. —  The  reign  of 
NT  Ayai,  known  as  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  or  Mumotshe  and  Okaidsha. — 
The  reformation  of  the  state  of  Akra  by  him ;  expedition  to  Little 
Popo,  and  his  death. — -  Chief  Okaidsha's  civil  wars ;  his  visit  to  the 
camp  of  Dade  Adu  and  his  death. —  Chief  Wetshe  Kodsho's  reign  and 
expedition  got  up  by  him  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  peace  in  the 
country. —  The  reign  of  Teko  Tshuru,  and  the  civil  war,  commonly 
called  Kotoku  and  Twerebo-war.     1733 — 1777. 

Akuapem  i.e.  Nkoa  apem,  which  means,  thousand  subjects,  is  the 
name  given  to  this  small  country  by  Ansa  Sasraku,  the  king  of 
Akwamu.  It  lies  between  5^  42'  and  6^  5'  North  Lat.  and  between 
00  3'  and  0^20'  West  Long.,  and  is  bounded  South  by  Ga  (Akra), 
East  by  Adangme  and  Krobo,  North  and  West  by  Akem.  The 
following  17  principal  towns  form  the  Akuapem  state,  viz.,  Bere- 
kuso,  Atweasing,  Aburi,  Afwerase,  Asantema  (Obosomase),  Tutu, 
Mampong,  Abotakyi,  Amanokurom,  Mamfe,  Akropong,  Abiriw,  O- 
dawu,  Awukugua,  Adukrom,  Apirede  and  Late.  If  the  latter  town 
is  reckoned  as  two,  viz.,  Ahenease  and  Kubease,  and  Abonse  is  se- 
parated from  Awukugua,  we  get  19  towns  in  the  whole. 

The  inhabitants  belong  to  three,  or  strictly  speaking,  two  different 
tribes.     Akropong,    the  capital,    and  Amanokurom   are  peopled  by 

*)  A  table  of  the  Kings  and  the  Eoyal  Family  of  Asante  will  be  given 
in  the  Appendix. 


Chapter   VII.  91 

emigrants  from  Akem,  and  the  rest  of  the  country  by  aboriginal 
tribes.  For  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Akwamus  from  Nyanawase, 
there  seem  to  have  been  some  refugees  of  the  place,  who  were 
of  the  genuine  Akan  tribe,  with  a  mixture  of  different  people,  such 
as  Berekus  and  Guans,  who  had  been  subjects  to  the  Akwamus. 
These  joined  the  aboriginal  tribes  and  are  known  as  Afwerase, 
Aburi,  Atweasing  and  Berekuso.  We  venture  to  say  thus  from 
two  reasons:  1.  not  all  the  Aburis  speak  pure  Tshi,  for  the  last 
20  or  30  years  ago  their  Tshi  was  just  as  that  spoken  by  the  Guans, 
although  it  is  greatly  improved  by  this  time.  2.  Nkunkreng,  the 
place  the  Aburis  are  said  to  have  emigrated  from,  sounds  not  like 
Tshi  but  rather  like  Guan  or  Kyerepong;  we,  however,  consider 
those  people  as  Akwamu  refugees. 

It  has  been  told  in  the  first  Chapter  that  the  Guans  and  Kyere- 
pongs  were  numerous  aboriginal  tribes  on  the  coast,  and  seemed 
to  have  been  driven  thence  to  the  mountains  by  the  Akras,  who 
immigrated  after  them  from  the  East.  That  they  were  then  sub- 
jects to  the  king  of  Akra  and  were  called  not  Akuapems  but  Guans 
(or  Shuoyi)  by  the  Akras.  When  the  kingdom  of  Akra  was  de- 
stroyed by  the  Akwamus  in  about  1680,  the  remnant  of  Akra  as 
well  as  the  Guans  and  Adangmes  came  under  the  Akwamu  yoke. 
At  that  time  their  large  number  was  greatly  diminished  by  in- 
cessant plunder,  inroads,  and  emigration  back  to  the  East.  It 
was  said  that  the  five  Kyerepong  towns,  viz.,  Abiriw,  Odawu,  A- 
wukugua,  Adukrom  and  Apirede  were  .50,  and  the  two  Late  towns 
30  under  their  king  Ani  Kotia,  but  all  was  reduced  to  the  present 
number  through  the  different  troubles  from  the  Akwamus. 

The  cause  of  the  emigration  of  the  Lates  to  Nkonya,  Karakye, 
&c.  was  the  fetish  Koiakom.  It  was  then  the  highest  fetish  of  theirs, 
for  which  a  bullock  was  offered  every  year.  The  offering  prepared 
was  carried  to  the  mouth  of  the  cave,  in  which  Konkom  was  said 
to  lodge.  The  priests  and  the  worshippers  had  to  retire  after  the 
offering  had  been  placed  there,  when  Konkom  had  to  come  out 
from  the  cave  and  to  select  such  parts  of  the  meat  as  he  chose, 
and  the  rest  he  left.  Some  naughty  fellows  took  upon  themselves 
to  see  who  the  fetish  was  that  used  to  select  the  best  part  of  the 
offering.  Hiding  themselves  at  a  certain  place,  they  saw  that  a 
certain  figure  in  the  form  of  a  man,  but  with  a  single  eye,  a  single 
arm  and  a  single  leg,  came  out  to  the  offering.  They  rushed  upon 
and  dragged   him  out  from  the  hole.    This  offended  Konkom  that 


92  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

he  entirely  left  the  Lates  for  Karakye.  To  punish  them  for  that 
desecration,  Konkoni  before  quitting  Late  promised  them  a  wonder- 
ful harvest,  and  therefore  advised  them  to  burn  all  the  corn  and 
rice  they  had  stored  in  barns.  Which  they  accordingly  did,  and 
the  consequence  was  a  famine  so  fearful  that  they  lived  on  roots 
and  such  things  for  a  while,  and  then  quitted  the  place.  The  people 
ot  Ntshummuru,  then  at  Karakye,  asked  the  emigrants:  "From 
what  place  are  you  coming?"  They  replied,  "From  Tshi-Date", 
which  was  corrupted  for  Odente  and  applied  ever  since  to  the  fe- 
tish Konkom.  The  remnant  of  the  30  towns  came  together  and 
formed  the  present  Ahenease  and  Kubease.  Hence  Ansa  Sasraku 
gave  the  name  Akuapem,  i.e.  1000  men  capable  of  bearing  arms,  to 
the  country.  The  Akuapem  history  says,  that  it  was  the  Aburis, 
the  advance-guard  of  Ansa  Sasraku,  who  first  revolted  from  the 
yoke.  Abuwa,  the  queen  of  the  place,  accused  her  subjects  to  Ansa, 
who,  knowing  how  brave  they  were,  did  not  give  them  battle  at 
once,  but  ordered  their  loaded  arms  to  be  tilled  with  water  whilst 
they  were  working  at  their  plantations  on  one  Wednesday,  and 
then  attacked  them.  Several  principal  men  were  then  captured  and 
killed;  hence  the  oath,  "Aburi  Wukuda  (Wednesday)";  from  that 
day  they  forbid  working  on  Wednesdays.  For  such  treachery  the 
Aburis  appealed  to  the  king  through  his  nephew,  prince  Opong 
Tenteng.  Not  obtaining  redress,  they  went  to  war.  The  prince, 
who  took  their  part,  was  slain.  They  took  the  body  and  tied  to 
the  place  which  the  Basel  Mission  station  now  occupies,  and  founded 
the  present  Aburi.  The  Atweasings  were  at  that  time  at  Kubesing 
near  Akem-Peak,  when  the  Akwamus  were  driven  from  thence. 
They  in  company  with  the  Berekusos  removed  tirst  to  Anamrako. 
The  former  removed  to  Atweasing  and  founded  that  town,  which 
now  has  become  united  with  Aburi,  and  the  latter  to  Berekuso. 

In  those  days  the  Akuapems  were  not  governed  by  any  princi- 
pal man,  but  every  town  had  its  ruler.  The  remaining  five  towns 
ofKyerepong,  viz.,  Abiriw,  Qdawu,  Awukugua,  Adukrom  and  Api- 
rede,  had  their  ruler  at  Awukugua,  where  a  large  market  had  been 
established  by  one  chief  Awuku,  and  on  account  of  that  market 
the  town  got  the  name  of  "Awukugua".  Through  marriage  the 
ruling  power  was  removed  to  Adukurom,  a  village  founded  by  one 
Boamo,  but  which  got  the  present  name  by  one  Akem-man  Adu- 
manuro,  who  was  a  native  ofAnum,  then  at  Nyanawase,  the  capi- 
tal  of  the  kings   of  Akwamu,   and   one   of  Ansa  Sasraku's   execu- 


Chapter  VIT.  9'S 

tioners,  resident  in  Boaino's  village,  and  b}'  generosity  his  name 
was  given  to  the  place  i.e.  Aduknrom  =  Ada's  town. 

The  Lates  also  had  their  chief  at  Kubease,  who  had  children  from 
a  wife  of  Ahenease  and  also  from  one  of  his  capital.  The  children 
of  the  former  wife  cared  properly  for  their  father  in  his  old  age, 
so  that  on  his  dying-bed  he  bequeathed  to  them  the  stool,  and  thus 
the  chieftainship  was  removed  from  Kubease  to  Ahenease.  The 
other  towns  had  their  chief  at  Abotakyi,  a  very  large  town  in  A- 
kuapem,  which  was  afterwards  destroyed  chiefly  by  the  Akwamus 
and  Asantcs. 

Chief  Asiedu  Kesc  was  the  founder  of  the  Late  state  and  was 
succeeded  by  Gyadu  Nkansa,  in  whose  old  age  and  at  his  hour  of 
death  prince  SAfori  arrived  in  Akuapem,  just  at  the  beginning  of 
his  successor  Ohcne  Berentiri's  reign.  Sediesa  (Asare  Diesa)  wa& 
chief  over   the  Kyerepongs    and  Ofee  Agyemang  over  the  Aburis. 

As  those  different  states  were  not  governed  by  a  king,  the  coun- 
try was  very  often  in  a  state  of  civil  commotions,  chiefly  between 
the  Guau  and  Kyerepong  tribes.  One  Okyame  Aworobeng  of  Mamfe 
was  the  first  man  who  bought  a  good  number  of  Danish  guns,  by 
which  he  committed  great  havock  amongst  the  Kyerepongs  and 
Lates.  He  took  many  of  them  prisoners  and  kept  them  in  his. 
village  Amamprobi.  At  the  accession  of  Safori,  the  chiefs  of  the 
different  states  conspired  against  Aworobeng,  and  at  their  request 
he  was  deposed  and  his  younger  brother  Mensa  Atshekpato  took 
his  place.  To  revenge  this  degradation,  Aworobeng  armed  a  dozen 
of  his  confidential  slaves,  attacked  the  Kyerepongs  and  Lates,  and 
killed  hundreds  of  them.  On  his  way  home  he  put  an  end  to  his 
life  between  Akropong  and  Mamfe,  and  was  buried  on  the  spot. 
His  village  with  land  adjoining  was  granted  to  Safori  by  all  the 
chiefs  of  Akuapem. 

The  cause  of  Akuapem  becoming  an  independent  state  is  by  pop- 
ular tradition  reported  thus :  Ansa  Sasraku  had  two  haughty  neph- 
ews, Oteng  Abransamadu  and  Oteng  Agyare.  These  young  princes 
used  the  middle  of  the  breasts  of  3'oung  women  of  Akuapem  as 
targets  in  exercising  their  newly  bought  arms.  The  chiefs  reported 
this  wicked  conduct  of  the  princes  to  Ansa  Sasraku,  and  the  result 
was,  that  they  were  sent  down  to  the  Dutch  Governor  at  Akra  lo 
be  trained  on  the  coast.  On  their  arrival,  they  refused  to  eat  any- 
thing, so  the  Governor  was  obliged  to  coax  them  for  three  days 
before  they  consented    to   taste   food.     Their  wives   were   ordered. 


94  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

there  and  then  to  prepare  some  dishes  for  them,  and  were  told  by 
them  privately,  that  the}''  should  bring  two  razors  along-  with  the 
dishes  to  shave  off  their  beards.  The  wives  accordingly  brought 
the  dishes  with  the  razors,  and  after  having  washed  themselves, 
they  cut  their  throats  with  them.  The  Governor  was  grieved  to 
hear  of  the  suicide  committed  by  the  princes,  and  despatched  mes- 
sengers to  report  it  to  the  King.  His  Majesty's  reply  to  the  Go- 
vernor was,  "I  have  heard  nothing" !  The  Governor  thought  the 
first  messengers  were  incapable  of  carrying  out  the  commission, 
so  he  despatched  other  messengers  to  tell  the  king  that  he  was 
ready  to  pay  any  amount  to  satisfy  him.  The  king's  last  reply 
was,  ^'I  will  accept  as  satisfaction  ahum  ne  aham,  nnonno  ne  nha- 
ha",  that  is,  everything  in  the  world :  stones,  trees,  dust,  gold, 
silver,  copper,  brass,  cloth,  fowls,  sheep,  quadrupeds,  birds,  &c.  This 
message  greatly  annoyed  the  Governor.  He  called  a  meeting  of 
the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra  and  consulted  them  what  was  to  be 
done.  They  told  the  Governor  that  they  were  tired  of  the  Akwa- 
mu  tyranny,  they  would  unite  and  tight  for  their  independence. 
The  Akuapems  were  informed  of  it  by  the  Akras.  Chief  Ofee 
Kwasi  Agyemang,  then  at  Gyakiti,  who  appears  then  to  have  been 
the  nominal  king  of  Akuapem,  was  also  informed  by  the  Akuapems. 
He  brought  a  small  force  in  aid  of  them,  and  battle  was  given  to 
Ansa  Sasraku  by  the  combined  forces  of  Akra,  Akuapem  and  the 
Gyakitis;  but  they  were  unable  to  stand  the  brave  Akwamus.  So 
the  assistance  of  Ofori  Panyin  of  Akem  was  asked,  and  prince  Sa- 
fori,  brother  of  the  king  (and  governor  of  Akem  Akropong),  was 
ordered  to  march  a  large  army  to  assist.  The  Akwamus  were  then 
conquered  and  driven  across  the  Volta.  In  this  war  Ba,  the  king 
of  Krobo,  was  also  asked  to  join,  when  seven  maiden  hostages  were 
sent  to  him  by  Ofori. 

Tradition  and  history  differ  widely  on  this  war.  Romer  as  well 
as  the  Akras  say,  the  war  was  fought  b,y  the  three  kings  of  Akem, 
Firempong  Manso,  Bakwante  and  Owusu  Akem,  and  that  is  true 
account.  For  the  war  being  fought  in  the  j^ear  1733,  and  Firem- 
pong, the  principal  king  among  the  three,  died  eight  years  after 
that.  His  nephew  Karikari  Apaw  then  succeeded  him  in  1741,  at 
which  time  war  broke  out  between  Asante  and  the  Akems  of  Da 
and  Abuakwa,  known  as  tiie  battle  of  Benna  in  1742. 

When  both  Bakwante,  Karikari  Apaw  and  Owusu  Akem  were 
slain  and  the  Akems  were  conquered,  the  Kotokus,  who  were  the 


Chapter  VII.  95 

principal  warriors  in  the  campaign,  were  entirely  translocated  from 
Da  across  the  Pra  to  Dampong.  The  conquered  land  of  Akwamu 
was  left  entirely  to  the  Abuakwas,  then  governed  by  Ofori  Panyin, 
hence  he  was  known  as  the  king  who  fought  and  deputed  his  blood 
relative  Safori  to  the  government  of  Akuapem.  Otherwise  not  the 
Abuakwas,  but  the  Kotokus  would  have  had  the  prerogative  in  the 
rule  of  the  conquered  places.  For  it  appears  that  not  only  the  A- 
kuapems,  but  the  Akras  also  were  for  some  time  under  the  juris- 
diction of  Ofori  Panyin,  as  already  narrated.  But  that  jurisdiction 
was  very  short,  as  the  Dutch  Government  and  whole  Akra  acknow- 
ledged Lete  Boi,  alias  Boi-Tono,  as  the  king  of  Akra  in  1734;  hence 
Dutch  Akra  is  called  Boimang.  To  prove  that  the  jurisdiction  over 
the  Akras  lasted  but  a  short  time,  and  then  became  a  mere  alliance 
is,  that  the  kings  of  Abuakwa  were  compensated  by  obtaining  the 
pay-notes  of  both  king  and  chief  of  Dutch  and  British  Akra,  which 
satisfied  them,  while  the  Akuapems,  not  obtaining  any  thing  of 
that  sort,  obliged  them  by  serving  the  Deputy  Prince  Safori  as  their 
king  as  we  see  by  the  following  account. 

After  the  conquest  of  Akwamu,  prince  Safori  retired  from  the 
camp  to  Amamprobi,  and  summoned  all  the  Akuapems  to  come 
there.  He  requested  them  to  untie  the  cartridge-belt  from  his  loins, 
which  means,  to  pay  him  so  as  to  retire  home.  At  that  time  they 
were  so  poor,  having  no  gold-dust,  money,  or  even  cloth  to  wear, 
that  they  used  dresses  of  Obofu,  the  bark  of  a  certain  tree,  beaten 
to  answer  the  purpose  of  clothing.  Hence  they  asked  Safori  to  re- 
main as  their  king,  which  he  consented  to  do,  and  informed  Ofori 
Panyin  of  it. 

To  cement  that  agreement,  the  new  king  requested  them  to  take 
an  oath  of  the  fetish  Kyenku  at  Obosomase.  They  all  met  at  A- 
botakyi,  and  the  fetish  oath  was  administered  to  them  to  the  effect, 
that  they  would  never  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  him  or  any  of 
his  successors  for  all  times  to  come.  This  being  done,  the  whole 
mass  of  people  was  organized  into  a  regular  Tshi  order,  viz.,  the 
live  Kyerepong  towns  formed  the  right  wing  division.  Late  and 
Mamfe,  Tutu,  Mampong  and  Asantema  (Obosomase)  the  left  wing, 
and  the  Akems  of  Akropong  and  Amanokurom  known  as  Komang 
i.e.  defenders,  and  chief  Ofee  Kwasi  Agyemang  of  Gyakiti  with 
the  Akwamus  of  Afwerease,  Aburi,  Atweasing  and  Berekuso,  who 
are  Tshis,  formed  the  centre  force.  In  reward  of  the  services  ren- 
dered by  Ofee  Kwasi  to  the  Akuapems,  previous  to  the  arrival  of 


9&  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

Safori,  he  was  nominated  as  the  Manklalo,  or  chief  in  general  over 
the  centre  force,  being-  next  in  rank  to  the  king.  Through  one 
Bagyiri  of  Abiriw,  who  gave  land  to  the  king,  he  removed  from 
Amamprobi  to  Nsoremu,  thence  to  Mpeniase,  and  founded  Akropong, 
the  capital  of  Akuapem,  so  named  in  memory  of  Akropong  in  A- 
kem,  the  first  town  of  Safori. 

The  successors  of  Safori  were,  Okyerema  Manukure,  Ofee  Boa, 
Ofee  Ntoakyerewo,  Ofee  Amanapa,  (the  three  last  may  have  been 
more  or  less  connected  with  the  family  of  chief  Ofee  Kwasi  Agye- 
mang,  being  named  after  him,)  Maniamfem,  Fianko  Betuafo,  Sakyiama 
Nteng,  and  Kwapong  Kyerefo.  Of  these  eight  kings  very  meagre 
traditions  have  reached  us,  because  the  periods  the}'  reigned  were 
very  short.  From  1734 — 1777  or  thereabout,  nine  kings  had  reigned 
at  an  average  of  not  more  than  four  or  five  years,  if  we  admit  the 
Akuapem  traditions  as  correct.  Fianko  Betuafo  is  said  to  have 
bought  cloth  and  given  to  his  chiefs,  to  enable  them  to  appear  in 
public,  and  also  to  have  bought  chairs  for  them  to  the  same  purpose. 

Sakyiama  Ntong,  we  suppose,  was  one  who  joined  the  expedition 
against  the  Angulas  in  1750,  when  their  assistance  was  craved  by 
the  Adas,  in  which  war  the  two  kings  Twum  Ampoforo  of  Akem 
and  Sakyiama  seem  to  have  been  captured  by  the  Angulas.  Staying- 
there  in  captivity  for  some  years,  the  former  was  redeemed  and 
reinstated,  but  was  afterguards  deposed  and  killed  by  his  subjects. 
Whether  Sakyiama  was  likewise  redeemed  is  uncertain.*) 


After  the  return  of  the  Akras  from  Little  Popo,  Ni  Tshie  (Note), 
the  chief  of  Teshi,  who  was  the  principal  leader  of  the  refugees^ 
staid  in  Dutch  town  to  assist  his  cousins,  Ama  Wusu  Ahyia,  the 
chief  of  Gbese,  and  Asa,  the  king  of  Christiansborg,  in  the  admin- 
istration of  government.  It  was  chiefly  through  his  energetic  ef- 
forts that  a  collection  was  made  towards  redeeming  the  two  princes^ 
Tete  Ahene  Akwa  and  Okaidsha,  the  securities  for  the  amount 
of  ammunition  bought  from  the  Dutch  government  in  the  Akwa- 
mu  war. 

Kuru,  brother  of  Nl  Tshie,  is  said  to  have  paid  the  share  of  the 
collection  for  Teshi  and  Gbese.  It  was  through  his  large  trade  with 
Fjuropeans    that  the  surname  Abrotsiri-Akara  i.e.  '^Minor  Europe" 

*)  Both  Twum  Ampoforo  and  Sakyiama  Nteng  were  ransomed ;  but 
the  latter  died  in  his  war  against  Sokgdei  in  Krepe,  hence  the  Akua- 
pem oath  "Sokgdei.'^ 


Chapter  VII.  97 

was  given  to  Teshi.     The  amount  having-  been  paid   to  the  Dutch 
government,  the  two  princes  returned  home. 

Tete  Ahene  Akwa  succeeded  his  father  Ayikuma  Tieko,  and  0- 
kaidsha,  his  father  A  ma  Wusu  Ahyia.  The  former  was  the  king  of 
whole  Akra,  the  latter  the  chief  of  Gbese. 

These  princes  might,  by  their  connection  with  the  Dutch  govern- 
ment, have  become  the  reformers  of  Akra,  because  several  of  their 
sons  were  educated.  But  unfortunately,  they  had  to  encounter 
gross  disorders  in  the  country  in  consequence  of  repeated  inroads 
of  the  Akwamus,  and  the  intrigues  of  different  usurpers. 

Besides  this,  gross  su|>erstition  prevailed  and  destroyed  every 
good  thing  that  could  be  introduced  by  the  princes.  The  people 
detested  education.  Even  Mulatto  children  were  forced  to  adopt, 
the  ways  and  habits  of  the  natives.  Those  who  could  not  stand 
it  were  obliged  to  reside  permanently  in  Christiansborg,  where 
education  was  given,  or  they  enlisted  as  soldiers  to  the  Danish  gov- 
ernment. The  evil  effects  of  that  deplorable  state  of  things  are 
felt  to  the  present  day!  Yet  those  that  had  European  blood  in 
them,  although  in  the  native  habits  with  no  education,  eventually 
became  the  protectors  and  deliverers  of  their  country  from  the 
hands  of  their  enemies  —  men  as  Tete  Tshuru,  Ayikai  Tshuru,  A- 
kotia  Owoshika,  Kodsho  Saul,  and  others. 

King  Tete  Ahene  Akwa,  commonly  known  as  Momotshe,  soon 
after  his  accession  commenced  reforming  and  improving  the  state 
as  well  as  establishing  order  among  the  chiefs.  Then  the  report 
came  that  a  war  had  broken  out  in  Little  Popo,  where  several  of 
his  relatives  and  people  had  settled.  Ambassadors  were  sent  to 
the  king,  earnestly  asking  his  assistance.  The  king  readily  agreed 
to  assist  them;  but  the  chiefs  and  people  dissented,  sajdng,  Popo 
had  never  been  a  lucky  place  for  them.  If  an  expedition  started 
to  the  place,  not  all  would  be  willing  to  return  home,  as  several 
of  their  relatives  would  entice  them  to  stay  there.  The  Dutch  gov- 
ernor of  Akra  also  was  against  the  king's  marching  an  army  to 
Popo,  and  therefore  advised  him  to  stay;  yet  go  he  must,  as  he 
had  already  given  his  word  of  honour  to  the  ambassadors.  Pre- 
parations were  made  in  spite  of  his  people's  objections.  Hence  his 
own  relatives  from  Abora  and  a  few  headmen  from  James  Town 
down  to  Ada  started  with  the  king.  The  majority  promised  to 
follow  afterwards. 

This  expedition  greatly  impaired  the  magnificence   and  glory  ol 

7 


98  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

our  kings,  as  all  the  roval  insignia  were  carried  oft'  and  never 
brought  back  again.  Even  his  son  Teko  Ding,  nephew  of  the  rich 
Boiini,  declined  joining  his  father  from  fear  of  losing  the  rich 
estate  in  case  the  uncle  should  die  in  his  absence.  As  the  king 
expected  a  reinforcement  by  the  majority  of  his  warriors,  the  ex- 
pedition marched  very  slowly  indeed.  Some  Angula  chiefs,  how- 
ever, joined  the  king,  but  the  Akras  never  did.  Spending  several 
weeks  in  every  town  along  the  coast,  the  king  at  last  reached 
Little  Popo.  Where  after  waiting  a  good  length  of  time  for  his 
people,  the  king  died  from  grief,  without  taking  the  field  against 
the  enemy.  His  remains  were  brought  in  a  ship  to  Akra  and  in- 
terred in  the  Dutch  Fort.  But  his  people  declined  returning  home 
from  fear  of  being  killed  by  chief  Okaidsha  on  account  of  the  hideous 
nmrder  they  committed  on  the  king's  nephew  Ayikai  Guahyia.  They 
therefore  dispersed  in  the  country,  which  greatly  diminished  the 
number  of  the  Abora  force.  Prince  Teko  Tshuru,  after  staying  a 
considerable  time  in  Popo  and  Krepe,  returned  in  his  old  age  and 
was  made  king.  His  half  brother  Teko  Ding,  who  had  got  pos- 
session of  the  rich  estate  of  his  uncle  Boimi,  had  endeavored  in 
vain  to  become  king,  which  disappointment  was  a  punishment  for 
his  refusal  to  join  his  late  father  to  Little  Popo. 

Chief  Okaidsha  ruled  during  the  king's  absence.  Being  a  very 
passionate  prince,  he  dealt  violently  with  those  chiefs  who  had 
usurped  power  and  refused  to  submit.  He  kept  up  constant  war 
in  the  country,  even  with  his  own  people  of  Gbese.  He  made 
alliance  with  all  the  towns  on  the  coast  against  Asere  and  Otu- 
Street  people  and  fought  with  them.  Chief  Sodsha  Duamoro  was 
one  of  his  powerful  allies,  and  Dako  (Akpo)  Fauy'in  was  the  chief 
of  Otu-Street.  In  memory  of  this  civil  war,  Sodsha  made  a  horn 
which  blew  ''Woko  mJi  Okaidsha  ma  Djiko  do  wo  na,"  i.e.  you 
fought  for  Okaidsha  and  were  blamed  by  Dako.  Chief  Wetshe 
Kodsho  of  James  Town  with  several  others  did  not  escape  free 
and  so  he  kept  all  of  them  to  their  places. 

During  his  days  king  Kusa  Adu*)  of  Gomoa  Asen,   who  gained 


*)  It  was  not  Kusa  Adu,  who  was  of  the  Asona  family,  as  Kwaw 
Ahura  Ako,  the  first  king  of  Gomoa  Asen  was,  and  to  whom  on  that 
account  the  stool  was  given,  but  it  was  Dade  Adu,  the  third  king  in 
the  line  of  Kusa  Adu.  The  government  of  Gomoa  Asen  became  here- 
ditary in  Kusa  Adu's  family,  as  large  property  was  left  by  him  to  his 
successors,  hence  they  became  more  powerful  than  Kwaw  Ahura  Aku's 


Chapter  VII.  99 

the  stool  by  merit,  acquired  so  mucli  fame  and  power  that  he  was 
called  Dade  Ada  i.e.  Adu  the  iron  or  powerful.  He  marched  against 
Yaw  Menta,  whom  Oduro  Tibo  had  forwarded  to  the  government 
of  Agona.  It  appears  that  after  the  death  of  Nyako  Ako,  the  A- 
gonas  had  not  entirely  given  up  man-stealing  and  plundering  of 
both  Fantes  and  Akras.  Having  defeated  and  chastised  Yaw  Menta 
and  his  people,  Dade  Adu  encamped  at  Dshoma  near  River  Densu 
(Humo).  He  invited  Okaidsha  to  visit  him  in  the  camp.  A  grand 
preparation  was  made  by  all  the  chiefs  of  Akra  from  Christiansborg 
to  Teslii,  who  came  to  his  camp,  where  a  grand  reception  and  rich 
presents  awaited  them.  He  gave  Okaidsha  two  big  drums,  made 
an  alliance  with  the  Akras  and  promised  to  assist  them  in  any 
thing  they  asked  him  for.  After  this  he  proposed  to  attack  the 
Akuapenis,  who  were  troublesome  to  the  Akras,  as  the  Agonas 
were  to  the  Fantes;  but  Okaidsha  interceded  saying,  they  acknow- 
ledged his  power,  and  also  constantly  assisted  in  roofing  the  public 
court  at  Akra.  Thus  the  matter  dropped,  and  the  king  marched 
back  to  Gomoa. 

After  this  alliance  between  Gomoa  and  Akra,  two  twin  brothers, 
Akwete  Oteni  and  Akuete  Okuru,  were  left  as  hostages  in  Gomoa 
Asen  by  their  own  people.  When  redeemed  afterwards,  they  intro- 
duced the  custom  of  making  offerings  (abamdshti  and  hadshiadshamo) 
to  souls  and  twin  children. 

It  was  a  custom  among  the  Akras,  never  to  coffin  a  deceased 
king  who  had  been  a  priest  to  their  national  fetish.  Chief  Okai- 
dsha had  died  and  the  educated  princes  among  his  sons  proposed 
to  coffin  their  venerable  father;  but  the  other  members  of  the  royal 
family  objected  to  this.  His  remains  were  nevertheless  coffined.  This 
led  to  a  contest  between  the  people  and  the  educated  princes  who 
v^^ere  (as  government  officials)  backed  by  the  soldiers  in  the  Dutch 
Fort.  His  remains  were  honorably  interred  in  the  fort.  This  originated 
tiie  oath  of  Gbese:  "Okaidsha  adeka"  i.e.  Okaidsha's  coffin,  because 
several  lives  were  lost  when  the  people  were  fighting  to  gain  the 
remains   of  the  chief.     In   consequence   of  this  riot   the  feelings    of 


successors,  viz.,  Kwaw  Aliura  Ako,  Kusa  Adti(?),  Okuntu,  Okwasi,  KoH 
Wusu,  Kwabena  Cure  (4.  April  1800),  Kofi  Osua,  Kwaku  Apeteto,  Kwaw 
Bentum,  and  the  present  Kwadwo  AkrampcX.  The  other  line  runs  thus: 
Kusa  Adu,  Endu  I.,  Kwadnmanu,  Dade  Adu,  Kwaku  Ata,  Endu  II., 
Kwadwo  Ako,  Ogwang  Ako,  Kwabena  Otebi,  Tanng  (deposed),  and  the 
present  Kwadwo  Kum. 

7* 


100  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

the  princes  were  so  embittei-ed,  that  they  preferred  to  reside  per- 
manently at  Elmina.  On  the  other  hand  the  people  of  Dutch  Town 
became  more  averse  to  education. 

Wetshe  Kodsho  of  James  Town  became  the  influential  chief  in 
the  country  after  the  death  of  Okaidsha,  and  Dako  I'anyin  had 
been  waylaid  and  killed  in  his  travelling-basket  by  some  unknown 
part}^  when  returning  back  from  Akem.  Some  say,  he  went  with 
100  men  to  assist  the  Akems  against  Asante  in  the  battle  of  Benna, 
when  the  Akras  were  asked  by  the  Akems  to  assist  them.  In  that 
battle  he  lost  nearly  all  his  men,  hence  the  oath  "Ahantang",  be- 
cause skirmishes  between  Asante  and  Akem  began  at  that  place, 
from  which  the  oath  got  its  name,  or  the  loss  of  100  men  "Oha 
ntam*'.  Others  say,  chief  Dako  went  on  purpose  to  Akem  to  get 
the  assistance  from  the  kings  to  fight  with  the  Akras  on  account 
of  the  recent  civil  wars  between  himself  and  Okaidsha.  Although 
Teko  Tshuru  was  then  the  king  of  Akra,  being  an  old  man  and 
not  moneyed,  his  influence  was  less.  Had  the  stool  been  given  to 
Teko  Ding,  who  had  the  rich  estate  of  Bgimi,  the  government  would 
have  been  more  glorious  as  far  as  money  concerns. 

In  those  days  rivalrj'  among  the  Dutch  and  Danish,  as  well  as 
the  Dutch  and  English  merchants,  manstealing  and  scarcity  of  pro- 
visions were  in  the  highest  stage  in  the  country.  The  kidnappings 
by  the  Agonas  had  been  checked  by  Dade  Adu,  but  Akra  women 
were  not  safe  at  Mlafi  and  other  Volta  towns,  when  travelling  there 
to  buy  corn.  As  pillaging  and  plundering  during  that  period  was 
too  general,  the  farmers  of  Akra  could  not  make  their  farms  more 
inland;  so  scarcity  prevailed  nearly  every  year,  that  people  were 
forced  to  travel  to  Krobo,  Ningo  and  such  places  for  food,  where 
they  were  never  safe. 

As  chief  Wetshe  Kodsho,  the  most  influential  man,  who  should 
have  thought  of  checking  this  evil,  was  indifferent,  the  public  held 
him  in  suspicion  as  an  accomplice  in  that  state  of  things,  in  revenge 
of  the  recent  troubles  he  got  from  Okaidsha.  At  last  an  expedition 
of  whole  of  Akra  was  got  up  by  him  to  chastise  the  plunderers. 
The  Angulas  heard  of  the  expedition,  were  frightened,  retreated  to 
their  towns  and  asked  for  peace.  The  messengers  were  answered, 
it  was  not  intended  against  them,  but  the  Volta  Towns'  people,  who 
had  (led  yonder;  they  ougiit  to  be  warned  to  desist  from  their 
practices,  that  trade  might  flourish  in  the  country.  The  Adas  were 
ordered  to  join  the  expedition,   and   the  Mlafis  were   attacked  and 


Chapter  VII.  101 

driven  across  the  Volta.  The  Krobos  were  also  warned,  and  the 
expedition  marched  back ;  but  chief  Kodsho  passed  through  Akua- 
pem  for  the  same  purpose  of  establishing  peace  in  the  whole  country. 
This  restored  peace  in  the  interior  of  the  country,  though  on  the 
coast  the  rivalries  of  the  European  merchants  continued. 

In  1777  a  civil  war  broke  out  in  the  country,  which  was  called 
the  Kotoku  and  Tvverebo  war.  Kotoku  means,  a  bag,  a  name  given 
by  the  natives  to  Mr.  Niels  A.  Aarestrup,  governor  of  the  Danish 
settlements,  and  Twerebo  means  flint,  a  name  given  to  the  Dutch 
governor  of  Akra.  The  former,  calculating  the  large  number  of 
the  Danish  subjects,  accepted  that  name  as  suitable,  because  he 
could  be  able  by  means  of  his  numerous  subjects  to  "bag"  his  ene- 
mies. The  Dutch  governor  accepted  the  name  "flint",  on  account 
of  his  subjects  being  brave. 

The  real  cause  of  the  war  was  not  known  to  the  natives,  but 
they  were  only  called  upon  by  their  masters  respectively  and  were 
armed  to  fight  against  each  other.  King  Obuobi  Atiemo  of  Akua- 
pem  as  well  as  the  Krobos  were  ordered  to  come  down  to  Chri- 
stiansborg.  King  Naku  Odang  of  Christiansborg  and  chief  Ako 
Dsharam  of  Labade,  the  chiefs  of  Ningo  and  Ada,  allies  of  the  Da- 
nish government,  were  summoned  to  come  with  their  forces;  arms 
and  ammunition  were  distributed  to  them.  Obuobi  Atiemo  with 
his  forces  of  Akuapem  alone  got  500  guns,  three  puncheons  of  rum, 
three  bullocks  and  1000  heads  of  cowries,  powder  and  lead  not 
known.  King  Teko  Tshuru,  chief  Oto  Brafo  of  Akra,  chief  Ngma- 
shitshe  Okang  Mensa  of  Teshi,  the  chiefs  of  Ningowa,  Tema  and 
Poni,  king  Obiri  Korane  of  Akem,  allies  of  the  Dutch  government, 
were  also  called  to  Akra  and  got  arms  and  ammunition. 

A  night  meeting  of  all  the  kings  and  chiefs  of  both  parties  was 
held  at  Tunyean  (Victoriaborg),  in  which  they  said,  "We  see  no 
reason  why  we  should  kill  ourselves  on  account  of  differences  be- 
tween two  foreigners!  You  Danish  allies  are  quite  aware  that 
3'ou  can  never  stand  us,  we  therefore  advise  that  every  one  of  us 
must  fire  without  bullets.  And  that  3'ou  flee  before  us  to  the  town 
of  Christiansborg  so  as  to  have  the  matter  dropped."  They  all 
agreed  to  this  proposition,  and  one  Thursday  was  fixed,  on  which 
the  engagement  was  to  take  place.  Visits  were  paid  to  both  towns 
simultaneously  till  the  day  fixed  came  on,  when  each  army,  beating 
its  drums,    arrayed  itself   at  Tunyean    and    engaged    each    other 


102  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

The  Danish  allies  accordingly  fled  into  Christiansborg;  while  the 
Aseres,  the  left  wing  of  Akra,  passed  to  the  eastern  side  of  the 
town.  They  were  met  by  a  party  of  Labades  there,  were  fired 
at,  and  a  captain  commanding  the  Aseres'  force  fell.  This  captain 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  headman  of  Abora  quarter  with  the 
name  Abeo-Twerekoanna,  of  whom  it  had  been  foretold  by  Saku- 
mo,  that  his  fall  would  insure  success  to  Akra.  His  body  was  con- 
veyed to  the  town  and  put  down  as  a  bait  on  the  road  to  Akra,  to 
allure  them  to  come  out  for  it.  The  cannon  in  the  fort  were  posted 
in  its  defence.  They  attempted  thrice  to  capture  the  body,  but 
were  repulsed  with  loss;  fortunately  they  succeeded  at  last  and  got 
possession  of  it. 

This  greatly  annoyed  the  Akras ;  however  they  proposed  again 
a  meeting  of  all  the  chiefs  and  elders  to  be  held  at  Labade,  to 
settle  that  misunderstanding.  Labade  had  been  evacuated  during 
those  days.  Oto  Brafo,  Obiri  Korane  and  some  of  the  principal 
chiefs  with  a  few  of  their  body-guards  were  seen  passing  one  mor- 
ning to  hold  the  meeting  at  Labade,  when  the  Labades  took  the 
party  to  be  hostile  and  advised  the  rest  to  open  fire  on  them. 
Prince  Osuapem,  the  son  of  king  Obiri  Korane,  and  several  others 
were  wounded,  but  the  fire  was  not  returned  till  they  reached 
Labade,  where  the  chiefs  of  Teshi  had  been  waiting  for  them. 
Being  thus  treated  by  the  Danish  allies,  the  Akra  chiefs  went  in 
conjunction  with  their  friends  to  Teshi.  The  fires  being  heard  by 
the  farmers  in  their  plantations,  they  returned  to  the  town  and 
reported  it,  that  a  very  large  army  was  seen  in  the  afternoon  march- 
ing to  Teshi  to  escort  back  the  chiefs  who  had  been  driven  there. 
The  Danish  forces  opened  fire  again  on  the  army,  but  it  was  not 
returned  till  the  chiefs  were  conducted  home;  and  having  been 
brought  home,  they  determined  to  brush  out  that  disgrace  and  to 
punish  the  Danish  allies  for  their  treacherj^  On  account  of  this 
civil  war  the  prickly  pears  used  as  a  fortification  around  Christians- 
borg  were  doubled,  and  gates  were  placed  on  the  ways  leading  to 
the  town  and  were  shut  ever}''  evening  at  six  P.  M. 

Oto  Brafo  at  the  head  of  the  Dutch  allies  encamped  at  Otonsrang 
(near  the  Supreme  Court-house  Victoriaborg)  and  gave  battle  to 
the  Danish  allies.  Under  the  heavy  fires  of  the  cannon  and  rockets 
from  the  garrison  of  Christiansborg  Castle  as  well  as  those  of  the 
allies,  the  latter  were  driven  clean  into  the  town  .and  took  asylum 
in  the  fort,  and  the  town  was  taken  by  the  Dutch  allies.     In  me- 


Chapter  VI I.  103 

niorial  of  this  victory,  Oto  Rrat'o  is  said  to  have  washeu  liiniself 
in  the  market-place  of  Christiaiisborg.  Tete  Diao,  Mensa,  Odai 
Anteo  and  Tete  Akrong-,  all  of  Gbese,  were  the  bravest  men  among 
them.  A  detachment  of  the  Labades,  who  could  not  get  admittance 
into  the  fort  from  reaching  the  place  late,  are  said  to  have  con- 
cealed themselves  under  a  rock  on  the  seashore.  It  would  have 
met  a  complete  annihilation,  had  it  not  very  fortunately  met  a  force 
from  Teshi,  which  protected  it.  According  to  Akuapem  tradition 
the  Dutch  allies  were  beaten  and  driven  into  the  town,  and  they 
would  have  set  it  on  fire,  had  not  night  overtaken  them.  They 
also  say  that  a  cannon  ball  was  shot  from  the  garrison  of  Chri- 
stiansborg  into  a  cannon  in  the  Dutch  Fort,  and  the  Dutch  Govern- 
ment asked  for  peace. 

The  loss  on  the  Akuapem  side  alone  was  35  men  killed,  and  200 
persons  wounded;  that  of  the  other  warriors  is  not  known.  How- 
ever chief  Ako  Dsharam  of  Labade  fell  in  the  action,  and  his  re- 
mains were  interred  in  the  castle  of  Christiansborg  with  due  hon- 
ours. Another  principal  man  of  Christiansborg  among  the  slain 
was  Yeboa,  elder  brother  of  Tete  Ashong.  The  whole  expense  of 
the  Governor  on  behalf  of  the  Akuapems  was  500  arms,  six  pun- 
cheons of  rum  and  six  bullocks,  1000  heads  of  cowries  as  "sub- 
sistence" and  1,600  heads  as  compensation  for  the  o5  men  slain, 
besides  monthly  stipends  to  king  Obuobi  Atiemo  and  all  his  chiefs 
and  interpreters.  What  the  Governor  spent  on  the  kings  and  chiefs 
of  Christiansborg,  Labade,  Ningo,  Ada  and  Krobo  is  not  known. 
The  loss  of  life  of  the  Dutch  allies,  and  the  expenses  of  the  Dutch 
Governor  are  likewise  unknown.  We  ask,  what  were  the  conse- 
quences of  this  waste  of  money  and  loss  of  life  for  both  the  Dutch 
and  Danish  Governments?  Bitter  feuds,  ill-feeling,  commotions, 
pillage,  and  what  not,  raged  among  those  tribes,  as  we  shall  find 
in  the  subsequent  chapters.  When  such  people  rule  a  country, 
what  can  be  expected,  but  woe  and  destruction,  not  only  of  life, 
but  of  good  morals,  unity  and  peace!  Governor  Niels  A.  Aarestrup 
left  the  country  for  Europe  on  the  24*'^  June  1777. 


We  insert  the  following  tradition  from  cousin  Philip  Reindorf 
about  chief  Okaidsha. 

He  was  born  of  Teko  Adu  Emiri  (Edu  Emil),  the  son  of  A  ma 
Wusu  Ahyia  of  Asamang-kese  in  Beremang  Province,  now  called 
Eastern  Akem,  and  Kokoi  Mota  Bara,   a  female  descendant  of  the 


104  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

stool,  relative  ofOfori  Aiikama,  the  successor  of  Boa  Ankania,  king 
of  Akrokyere  in  Adanse.  When  the  Dutch  West  African  Company 
took  the  Gold  Coast-territory  from  the  Portuguese,  it  seems  that 
the  contest  between  the  Akems  and  the  part  of  the  Akwamus  who 
unfortunately  killed  Boa  Ankania  (under  the  command  of  the  king's 
son  Asare,  afterwards  nicknamed  ^'Okum-ose",  the  leader  of  the 
insurgents)  was  still  seriously  raging.  Consequently,  as  the  Dutch 
Company  desired  that  the  war  should  come  to  a  permanent  end,  they 
offered  to  assist  the  Akems  then  residing  in  Akra  to  exstirpate  the 
insurgents,  who  were  then  hovering  over  all  the  bush.  And  as 
the  Akem  Chiefs  had  to  give  surety  to  the  Director  General  of  the 
Company  for  the  good  conduct  and  faithful  performance  of  the  sti- 
pulations and  agreements  that  were  to  be  entered  into  between 
them  and  the  company,  and  for  due  payment  of  the  amount  for 
the  arms  and  ammunition  they  were  to  be  furnished  with  to  carry 
on  the  war,  Okaidsha  and  others  were  given  to  the  director  Mr.  Ni- 
colas as  security  and  hostages.  This  took  place  when  he  was  a 
child;  he  was  sent  to  Holland  by  Mr.  Nicolas. 

During  his  absence  a  great  change  took  place  in  the  political  life 
of  the  country.  The  Akems  in  pursuing  the  Akwamus  left  Akra 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  old  men  and  chiefs.  The  names  of 
them  as  far  as  they  have  come  down  to  us  are  these :  Ofori,  Adu- 
Nkurang,  Owusu  Ahyia,  Abonua,  Alien kwa  Sono,  Ayikai  Osiahene, 
Obuamang,  Tete  Amarakese,  Damte,  Firempong,  Otu  Ahyiakwa, 
Dako  Ampim.  It  seems  that  at  this  time  Christiansborg  and  James 
Town  had  not  yet  been  built. 

On  the  departure  of  the  Akem  army  from  Akra  and  its  suburbs 
in  pursuit  of  the  Akwamus,  the  residuary  element  of  the  Ga  lineal 
body  assumed  the  power  of  exercising  the  functions  of  the  monarchy 
subjected  to  the  dictations  of  the  Guans,  who  form  the  fetish  order; 
the  remaining  Akem  element,  in  order  to  have  the  help  of  the  fetishes 
invoked  in  behalf  of  their  men  who  were  engaged  in  the  fight 
with  the  Akwamus,  acquisced  thereto. 

Now  you  will  find  that  in  the  time  we  are  are  speaking  of,  there 
were  living  in  the  town  of  Akra  people  of  three  different  races: 
first,  the  Aborigines  Guan;  second,  the  immigrants  Ga;  and  third, 
the  Komang,  Otshi  and  Akan.  The  body  of  the  latter  race  kept 
very  reticent  concerning  the  matters  relative  to  the  town,  leaving 
them  to  the  others  and  relying  upon  their  efforts  to  induce  the 
fetishes  to  support  them  to  conquer  the  enemy. 


Chapter  VII.  105 

At  this  time  the  people  witii  one  consent  elected  a  prince,  by 
father  an  Otshi,  and  by  mother  of  Ga  descent,  named  Ayikuma 
Tieko,  to  be  king  of  Akra.  This  personage  claimed  Okaidsha  as 
a  nephew  by  virtue  of  his  father  being  a  relative  of  Okaidsha's 
mother.  More  also  he  was  Ama  Wusu  Ahyia's  son  or  nephew 
by  a  brother. 

The  Dutch  Company,  having  failed  to  obtain  satisfaction  from 
the  Akems,  brought  Okaidsha  back  from  Holland  to  Elmina,  some 
time  after  Ayikuma's  death,  intending  to  substitute  him  as  king  in 
the  place  of  his  ancestors,  the  Akan-race;  but  the  people  were 
bribed  by  Ayikuma's  son  named  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  to  oppose  the 
succession  of  inheritance  in  Akra  being  reverted  to  the  Akan  rule. 
(Here  we  will  find  that  originally  the  inheritance  in  both  the  Gwan 
and  Ga  races  was  by  male  line,  that  is,  a  Son ;  but  this  was  con- 
verted into  the  Tshi  system  during  the  time  of  the  temporal  reigns 
of  Ofori  and  a  few  of  the  Akan  Royals.)  Hence  Okaidsha  was 
long  detained  at  Elmina  by  the  then  Director  to  his  great  incon- 
venience. 

It  seems  that,  before  Okaidsha  was  sent  to  Holland,  he  had  mar- 
ried and  had  a  son,  named  Adu  Ama,  after  the  names  of  both  his 
father  Adu  Emiri  and  grand-father  Ama  Wusu  Ahyia;  or  perhaps 
he  had  him  after  he  returned  to  the  coast.  He  sent  this  son  to 
the  Hague  in  Holland  through  the  company  to  be  educated,  for  which 
he  was  nicknamed  Adu  Ama  Broni,  whose  descendants  are  living 
now  at  Gbese  (Ussher  Town),  Akra,  and  at  Elmina.  Okaidsha  was 
kept  till  this  son  returned  to  the  coast.  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  having 
been  installed  king  of  Akra  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  com- 
bined body  of  the  three  races,  as  there  are  several  of  the  Tshi  de- 
scendants who  were  at  that  time  indulging  in  certain  political  airs 
which  did  not  belong  to  their  ancestors,  and  therefore  feared  that 
on  Okaidsha's  accession  to  the  stool  he  would  reduce  them  to  their 
proper  places.    About  some  of  these  chiefs  we  shall  speak  presently. 

When  Adu  Ama  Broni  (Adama  Broni)  i.e.  Edu  Ama  white  man 
arrived  at  Elmina,  he  met  his  father  there,  who  was  prevented 
from  coming  down  to  Akra.  He  assisted  his  father  to  the  best  of 
his  ability,  and  as  he  had  been  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
company,  used  his  influence  for  his  father's  release.  All  these  pro- 
ceedings between  the  son  and  the  company  were  conmumicated  to 
the  Akras,  and  this  caused  a  division  among  the  people:  some  fa- 
voured his   coming,   and  others  opposed  it.    The  Director  decided 


lOG  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

in  favour  of  his  coming,  and  proposed  to  comnianicate  it  to  the 
Principals  in  Holland.  When  this  was  reported  to  Tete  Ahene  A- 
kwa,  he  said  that  he  had  been  solicited  by  the  Popos  to  go  and 
help  them  to  fight  against  an  hostile  tribe.  He  left  Akra  after 
having  bribed  the  Guans  not  to  oppose  his  march,  and  the  Ga 
clement  with  some  Tshis,  who  were  in  his  favour,  to  follow  him 
clandestinely  one  night,  taking  with  him  all  the  propert}'^  belonging 
to  the  Akan  Royals,  without  making  any  preparation  towards  going 
as  a  warrior. 

Two  years  after  he  had  left,  Okaidsha  arrived  in  Akra,  and  found 
the  town  in  a  most  dissipated  and  unsatisfactory  state.  He  first 
built  a  house  close  to  Abonua-house  on  the  site  now  forming  the 
open  space  north-westward  in  front  of  the  Ankra  family  house, 
whicli  were  all  included  in  houses  which  he  built  for  his  wives 
and  famil3\  After  having  built  and  established  himself,  he  began 
to  question  about  the  property  which  he  ought  to  have  inherited 
from  deceased  members  of  his  family.  This  question  brought  another 
era  of  troubles.  He  persisted  on  having  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  brought 
back  from  Popo  by  those  remaining  chiefs  whom  he  suspected  to 
have  hand  in  the  runaway's  affairs.  But  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  refused 
to  return,  stating  that  he  had  gone  for  war  and  the  Akras  had 
better  follow  him  to  fight  and  finish  the  war,  before  he  came  back 
to  give  Okaidsha  an  account  of  the  property  and  the  stool.  Okai- 
dsha got  into  a  rage  and  mustered  all  the  forces  he  could  and  start- 
ed to  overtake  him ;  but  unhappily  the  Dutch  and  the  Danish  Go- 
vernments interfered  and  stopped  him  at  Christiansborg,  where  he 
stayed,  refusing  to  come  back  until  he  had  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  either 
dead  or  living.  The  Dutch  Government  sent  a  man  of  war  with 
soldiers  to  bring  him.  Some  say  that  the  Dutch  failed,  while  others 
say  that  he  was  at  last  surrendei'ed  to  the  Dutch  force  by  the 
people,  and  when  he  was  brought  to  the  ship,  he  poisoned  himself 
during  the  night  and  was  found  dead  the  next  morning.  His  corpse 
was  brought  to  Akra.  Okaidsha,  not  knowing  him  in  life,  doubted 
the  body  to  be  that  of  his  opponent,  although  many  others,  besides 
Tete's  own  daughter,  named  Momo,  who  was  then  married  to  the 
Danish  Governor  at  Christiansborg  and  was  living  there,  came  and 
identified  him  and  claimed  his  corpse  and  buried  it.  Some  say 
that  Memo's  mother  was  a  niece  of  Okaidsha's,  or  that  she  belonged 
to  the  family  of  Okaidsha  on  the  mother's  side,  that  is  Ofori's  fam- 
ily.   At  present  her  descendants  consider  themselves  as  connected 


Chapter  VII.  107 

with  Okaidslia's  by  this  relationship  and  form  one  laniily,  sympa- 
thizing with  each  other  in  every  disaster.  Tete  Ahone  Akwa's 
children  and  all  the  people,  chiefs,  and  captains  that  went  down 
to  Popo  with  him  remained  there  from  fear  of  being  killed  by  0- 
kaidsha. 

Okaidsha's  indignation  having  been  thns  pacified,  he  returned 
from  the  camp  on  the  suburbs  of  Christiansborg  to  Akra.  During 
the  time  he  was  in  tiic  camp,  his  followers  dug  up  the  reservoir 
now  at  Christiansborg  known  as  Tunma  Ayi  (Tuhmawe-Ayi  =  Ayi 
of  Tun  ma  we). 

As  I  have  stated  before,  some  chiefs  of  the  Tshi  race  intrigued 
with  the  Ga  and  Guaii  races  to  oppose  Okaidsha's  return  to  Akra, 
when  he  was  at  Ehnina.  Okaidsha  now  seized  the  opportunity  to 
avenge  himself  of  the  injury  by  picking  up  quarrels  with  such  chiefs 
and  noblemen  or  their  successors,  whom  he  thought  to  have  been 
injurious  to  him.  He  began  by  fighting  Ama  Kuma,  a  chief  or 
nobleman  at  Shuowumona,  and  killed  him.  This  Ama  Kuma  was 
another  son  of  Ayi  Kuma  Tieko  and  therefore  a  half-brother  to 
Tete  Ahene  Akwa.  He  next  had  to  fight  Ayikai  Siahene,  whose 
ofiice  was  to  perform  the  ceremony  of  installing  the  candidate  on 
the  kingly  stool.  Ayikai  Siahene  addressed  Okaidsha  in  a  debate 
as  ''Agyaba  nnam,"  that  is,  my  father's  son  hero  or  sharpness,  and 
probably  he  was  his  half-brother. 

Dui-ing  the  reign  of  Tete,  Ayikai,  being  the  one  who  had  in- 
stalled Tete  on  the  stool,  boasted  that  he  had  cut  off  Okaidsha,  and 
was  greatly  respected.  He  kept  the  Akem  Royal  household  fetish 
called  Afieye  (Afriyie)  and  from  that  he  had  all  the  priests  of  the 
Guan  seven  fetishes,  and  subjects  thereto  belonging,  rallied  around 
him,  and  assumed  a  perfect  royal  power  after  Tete  left  Akra.  He 
belonged  to  Guanmoa,  now  corruptly  pronounced  Gumoa  or  Gomoa 
in  B'ante,  and  therefore  had  a  privilege  to  interfere  with  the  Guans. 
He  appropriated  all  the  moneys  and  things  that  people  offered  to 
the  fetishes,  and  the  receipts  of  the  ferry  on  the  river  Sakumo,  which 
were  generallj^  shared  among  the  headmen  of  the  seven  quarters 
in  which  each  fetish  lived.  When  Okaidsha,  being  engaged  with 
several  other  matters,  seemed  to  have  taken  no  notice  of  all  these, 
he  was  nevertheless  on  the  alert,  and  one  day  called  him  to  account 
from  whom  he  derived  that  power.  Ayikai  stated  that  it  was  from 
one  Ama,  a  lieadman  over  Sakumo  people  then  living  at  Lomo- 
tshokuna  at  Asere. —  Ama  could  not  be  asked;  he  either  had  died 


108  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

or  gone  down  with  Tete;  but  his  brother  Odoi  Kotei  was  siunmoned 
to  a  meeting  and  asked.  He  said,  Ama  had  not  given  an_y  power 
to  Ayikai,  hence  the  song,  see  below.*)  Ayikai  resorted  to  other 
excuses,  had  seduced  the  aborigines  to  take  him  as  their  king,  and 
had  appointed  one  Yaboi  as  the  priest  of  Nai  fetish,  Odoi  Blem  as 
priest  to  Sakunio,  and  to  several  other  fetishes  the  same. 

Okaldsha  claimed  that  his  ancestors,  the  Akan  representing  the 
Komang,  were  those  who  saved  botli  the  Ga  and  Guan  races  from 
the  oppression  of  the  Akwamu  insurgents,  and  that  they  had  lost 
not  only  their  king  Ankama,  but  their  great  state  Adanse  also. 
He  therefore  claimed  that  he  alone  had  a  right  to  use  the  power 
Ayikai  was  assuming,  and  therefore  Ayikai  must  surrender  every 
thing  to  him.  Ayikai  refused,  and  summoned  all  the  Guah  element 
to  his  side,  viz.,  the  priest  of  Oyeni,  Tete  Kpeshi,  and  his  family, 
and  the  Berekus,  besides  the  Gomoas  who  were  his  own  people. 
(The  Bereku  or  Mereku  people  lived  at  Tafo  and  Sakotshoishi,  and 
the  Sempe  people  also  at  Oyenina.  Oyeni  was  next  in  rank  and 
age  to  Nai,  the  paramount  fetish  of  the  Sempe  people.) 

Okaldsha  summoned  to  his  part  all  the  Tshi  elements,  viz.,  La- 
kote  nukpa,  whom  he  made  the  priest  of  Nai,  Ama  Wusu  Ahyia's 
people,  Adu  Nkorang's  people  (these  two  chiefs  were  then  living 
in  Gbese  by  Nai's  priest),  Tete  Amarakese's  people,  called  Onam- 
oko  (living  with  the  priest  of  Kole  at  Sakotshoishi  at  Asere),  O- 
boama's  people,  called  Otuopai,  living  then  at  Shuowumona  at  Asere 
(himself  and  his  people  living  with  the  fetish  Amugi  in  Abora)  tS:c. 
When  things  were  going  on  like  this,  the  Ga  race  remained  neutral, 
as  they  did  not  wish  to  provoke  the  displeasure  of  one  party  by 
taking  the  opposite  side.  There  were  also  Tshi  elements  of  the 
Agona  family.  (The  Tshis  were  divided  into  several  families,  as 
at  the  present  day.)  Because  Ofori  brought  down  Damte  of  Tshi- 
foro,  Firempong  of  Oda  or  Da,  and  Otu  of  Dankera;  all  these  be- 


'')  Miinnyae  nkorodo,   wamma  no  biribia  e, 
Odoi  Kotei   se,  Ama  amma   no  biribi. 
E,  wamma  anye  yiye. 
E,   Odoi  reko  o,  miinnyae  nkorodo  ! 

Give  up  your  prattling,  nothing  had   been  granted, 

Odoi  Kotei  says  that  Ama   didn't  grant  it. 

It  was  falsely  given. 

Oh,   Odoi  is  off",   give  up  your  prattling. 


Chapter  VII.  109 

longed  to  the  Agona  family,  and  therefore  did  not  interest  them- 
selves in  behalf  of  their  brethren,  the  Asona  and  Aknona  families,  so 
lon<!;  as  their  fetishes  Dantu  &c.  were  not  touched ;  they  too,  there- 
fore, remained  neutral.  KntOkaidsha  was  quite  enough  accommodated 
by  providence  with  all  he  might  require.  A  (ight  ensued  between 
the  two  respective  bodies.  The  Guans  were  driven  out  of  the  town, 
and  their  leader  Ayikai  Siahene  is  said  to  have  been  caught  and 
executed.  Okaidsha  had  such  marked  success  in  every  undertaking, 
that  he  was  surnamed  ^'Aforoso"  (=  he  has  surmounted),  "Oka- 
frafra"  (=  he  bites  fiercely). 

The  Guans,  who  form  the  present  quarters  in  .James  Town  known 
as  Amanfti,  Oyenina,  Sempe,  IViereku  and  Akaiimadshe,  having  been 
thus  beaten  and  their  leader  being  killed,  went  up  into  the  bush 
and  afterwards  returning  built  towns  on  the  other  side  ofKole,  viz., 
Gblamgte  and  Kolebu.  When  they  were  living  there,  they  sent 
messengers  to  Dade  Adu,  the  king  of  Gomoa,  to  help  them  to  fight 
and  conquer  Okaidsha,  forgetting  that  he  also  belonged  to  the  A- 
sona  liimily,  and  not  the  Apiade  family,  to  which  their  leader  had 
belonged.  Dade  Adu  came  down  with  a  very  large  force  to  the 
suburbs  of  Akra.  He  encamped  at  Aberekuma  and  Anya,  and  sent 
for  the  chiefs  of  Agona  and  Aburi,  thinking  really  that  he  would 
fight  with  Okaidsha  and  conquer  Akra,  which  he  had  long  coveted. 
Hut  to  his  sad  disappointment  he  was  told  by  the  chief  of  Aburi, 
who  Okaidsha  was.  He  was  then  led  with  J03'  and  pleasure  to  send 
for  Okaidsha,  who  went  to  Anya  in  company  with  all  the  chiefs 
of  Akra,  who  expected  to  see  Okaidsha  thrashed  for  his  conduct 
as  he  deserved.  But  fortunately  Adu  received  Okaidsha  with  more 
spirit  of  friendship  and  familiarity  than  Okaidsha  himself  thought. 
Previously  the  chief  of  Aburi  had  given  him  a  hint  not  to  fear. 
The  meeting  was  very  grand ;  four  chiefs  or  kings  ruling  the  Guans 
in  Gomoa,  Agona,  Akuapem  and  Ga,  three  of  whom,  if  we  take 
Okaidsha  to  be  an  Asona,  belonged  to  one  large  family,  and  only 
the  chief  of  Aburi  belonged  to  the  Abrade  family.  Thus  to  meet 
together  with  much  pomp  and  glory  was  a  pleasant  meeting  indeed. 
Although  Okaidsha  went  as  a  common  man,  yet  Dade  Adu  received 
him  as  a  superior  to  himself,  both  for  Okaidsha's  age  and  birth 
as  some  say  that  he  was  much  older  than  Adu.  Every  thing  that 
a  king  should  have  was  given  to  Okaidsha  by  Adu;  he  pronounced 
a  blessing  upon  all  his  efforts,  exhorted  him  how  to  manage  his 
kingdom,   and    to  rule   without  fear  of  any  one.     He    also  pacified 


110  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  As  ante 

him  with  good  words  to  reconcile  to  the  peo[)le,  in  conse(}uence  of 
which  Okaidsha  afterwards  reconciled  to  the  Guan  party  in  Akra. 
He  married  a  cousin  of  the  chief  of  Amanfa,  named  Kpakpo  Amo- 
aforo,  called  Amanua  Kwafo,  and  gave  his  sister  or  one  of  his  re- 
latives as  wife  to  him,  and  by  this  intermarriage  a  permanent  peace 
was  established  between  the  people  of  James  Town  and  the  Abora 
and  Gbese  people. 

About  this  time  the  English  West  African  Company  came,  and 
Okaidsha  arranged  with  Kpakpo  to  stay  under  the  English,  and 
in  doing  so  they  were  called  English  people.  The  company's  chief 
trader  lived  in  the  company's  house  with  their  servants  called  A- 
lata.  Okaidsha  haying  arranged  all  this,  removed  all  the  fetishes, 
which  were  harboured  at  Asere  quarter,  to  Gbese,  where  Nfii  was 
alread}'.  He  removed  Sakumo  from  Lomotsiiokuna,  deposed  its 
priest  Odoi  Blcm,  and  bought  a  slave  whom  he  made  a  priest  in 
the  room  of  Odoi.  He  removed  also  Kole  from  Sakotshoishi  and 
Okudsham  from  Firempong-we.  The  followers  of  these  fetishes, 
and  Adu  Nkorang,  Ama  Wusu  Ahyia,  Tete  Amarakese,  Oboamang 
and  Ayikai  Tshuru  and  their  people,  he  made  his  own  attendants, 
but  refused  to  occupy  the  stool  of  Sakumo,  which  was  left  by  Tete 
Ahene  Akwa. 

It  is  said  that  there  were  three  stools  at  Akra  at  that  time:  the 
Ga  stool,  made  of  ivory,  the  Adanse  stool  brought  by  Boa  Ankama, 
made  of  wood  and  decorated  with  gold,  and  the  Guan  stool  which 
was  dedicated  to  the  king  of  Akra  by  Sakumo.  The  latter  was 
never  to  be  carried  out  of  the  town. 

Tete  Ahene  Akwa  took  the  former  two  down  with  him  to  Popo, 
and  Okaidsha  determined  that,  unless  these  two  stools  were  brought 
back,  he  wonld  not  accept  the  latter,  and  he  refrained  from  inter- 
fering or  participating  in  the  worship  of  the  fetishes.  He  deprived 
Abora  of  all  Tshi  descendants,  hence  the  phrase  ''Obi  nni  Abora", 
Nobody  is  at  Abora.  He  did  all  this  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
his  dignity  as  the  heir  of  Ofori. 

The  people  for  some  time  had  nobod}^  at  their  head  in  worship- 
ping the  fetishes,  principally  Sakumo.  The  fetish  prophets  there- 
fore instigated  the  people  to  appeal  to  Momo,  to  nominate  some 
one  of  the  family  to  act  as  their  mouth-piece  to  the  fetishes,  Okai- 
dsha still  retaining  them  in  his  custody.  And  she  did  so.  The 
tradition  says  that  a  sister  of  Momo  was  married  to  a  nephew  of 
Okaidsha,  and  they  had  a  son  named  after  the  grandfiither  Teko; 


Chapter  VIII.  Ill 

the  father  of  this  son  was  dead.  Momo  consulted  Okaidsha,  and, 
obtaining  his  permission,  gave  him  to  the  fetishmen;  he  was  wrapped 
in  an  ephod  and  tai^en  around  the  town.  This  originated  the  usage 
still  prevailing,  that  before  a  king  is  instated,  the  chief  of  Gbese 
must  be  consulted  and  his  consent  formally  obtained,  and  the  king 
must,  on  the  death  of  any  fetish  priest,  officiate  in  all  the  fetish 
houses  especially  in  those  of  the  three  principal  fetishes,  viz.,  Nai, 
Sakumo,  and  Kole. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

General  Constitution  of  the  countries.  Tshi  form  and  Akra  form  of  Cov- 
ernment. —  Construction  and  worship  of  the  Royal  stool. —  Law  about 
succession;  collection  of  revenue. —  Organization  of  their  armies. — 
Different  bands  and  their  symbolical  mottoes. —  Preparation  for  war; 
symbolical  means  of  communication. 

The  Governments   established  in  the  country   are   of  two  kinds. 

The  Tshi  form  of  Government  is  an  absolute  monarchy,  in  which 
the  king  or  chief  has  unlimited  power  over  life  and  property  of  his 
subjects.  Those  Tshi  chiefs  coming  into  the  Protectorate  have, 
however,  moderated  their  claims  on  their  subjects,  by  coming  in 
contact  with  the  European  form  of  government.  The  Royal  stool 
is  by  order  of  the  king,  who  established  a  dynasty,  constructed  and 
carved,  generally  out  of  ''osesew"  or  any  other  hard  wood.  It  is 
generally  worshipped  as  a  kind  of  national  fetish.  Human  sacri- 
fices were  sometimes  offered  to  it,  but  generally  the  blood  of  a  ram 
and  it  is  annually  painted  with  the  blood  of  the  victims,  and  the 
subjects  are  taught  to  fear  it,  as  the  Jews,  Christians,  and  Mohamme- 
dans are  taught  to  fear  God.  The  stool  of  Asante  was  made  by 
(Jkomfo  Anokye,  who  told  them  that  the  stool  was  possessed  with 
the  spirit  of  an  albino,  or  white  negro,  and  therefore,  no  white  man 
should  ever  be  sacrificed  to  it;  hence  the  Asantes  never  sacrifice 
or  behead  a  white  man  or  albino  as  an  offering  to  the  stool. 

The  successors  of  the  king  were  formerly  his  younger  brother 
or  his  first  son,  but  subsequently  his  nephews.  Among  the  different 
traditions  showing  why  nephews  became  heirs,  we  choose  the  follo- 
wing: The  priest  Anokye  advised  the  king  in  whose  reign  the  stool 
was  made,  that  in  celebrating  a  yearly  feast  in  its  honour,  yam 
must  be  used.     That  first  king  was  Sei  Tutu,   in  whose  days  yam 


112  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

was  not  known  in  Asante,  but  was  indit^enous  in  Takiman.  Amo 
Yaw,  the  king  of"  the  place,  had  strictly  forbidden  the  export  of  it 
into  another  country.  The  king-  of  Asante  sent  messengers  to  him, 
requesting  a  favour  of  a  few  seeds  to  plant.  His  request  was  not 
granted  ;  alleging  as  his  reason  that  yam  was  a  noble  plant,  and 
unless  one  of  his  noble  royal  blood  be  sent  in  exchange,  it  could 
not  be  spared.  The  king  thereupon  consulted  with  his  wives,  that 
one  of  them  should  give  up  a  son  to  purchase  the  seed;  but  none 
consented  to  his  request.  The  king  was  in  great  distress,  till  his 
sister  offered  one  of  her  sons  and  obtained  the  seed,  which  was 
planted  in  Asante;  hence  nephews  became  heirs  to  the  stool.  In 
celebrating,  therefore,  the  grand  yam-custom,  it  was  settled  by  the 
sister,  that  300  persons  must  be  slaughtered,  not  for  the  stool,  but 
in  honour  of  that  royal  personage,  who  was  sold  to  obtain  yam. 
In  course  of  time,  the  number  of  the  poor  victims  was  reduced  to 
200,  then  to  100,  afterwards  to  80,  and  at  last  to  one  person,  on 
every  yam-custom.*) 


*)  The  above  tradition  may  be  true,  yet  it  seems  that  the  occasion 
has  not  taken  place  in  Asante,  but  in  one  of  the  kingdoms  established 
prior  to  that,  for  both  in  Adanse  and  Dankera  —  the  first  ruling  powers  — 
brothers  and  nephews  have  been  heirs  from  the  beginning  up  to  the 
present  date. 

Yam  is  said  to  be  indigenous  in  Mehnye,  a  country  north  of  Taki- 
man. When  the  country  was  conquered  by  Opoku  Ware,  access  was 
obtained  to  the  place,  where  not  only  the  seeds  were  obtained  for  cul- 
tivation in  Asante,  but  the  people  were  ordered  by  Opoku  Ware  to 
contribute  yams  as  part  of  their  annual  tribute  for  the  celebration  of 
the  Yam-Custom. 

There  are  seven  principal  original  family  groups  or  clans,  called  „A- 
busuabah-ason"  among  the  Tshi  nation,  to  which  ten  minor  ones  are 
connected.  The  principal  original  family  groups  are:  Asekyiri,  Asona, 
Agona,  Oyoko,  Aduena,  Asgkore  and  Abrade  (Asenee).  The  first  Adanse 
kings  were  of  the  Asekyiri  family  group ;  the  kings  of  Dankera,  of  the 
Agona  family,  the  kings  of  Akwamu  of  the  Abrade  family,  and  the  first 
three  kings  of  Asante  of  the  Akoona  family,  but  those  from  Osei  Tutu 
downwards  are  of  the  Oyoko  family  group.  The  Asona  family  group  is 
the  most  numerous  and  is  found  in  sevex'al  states,  viz.,  Akem  Abuakwa, 
Akuapem,  Wasa,  Fante,  Agona,  Ofeso  &c.  If  they  could  be  united,  they 
would  form  the  most  powerful  body  on  the  Gold  Coast.  This  family 
group  appears  to  have  been  once  most  powerful,  but  at  what  period, 
we  are  not  certain. 

In  all  these  families,  succession  is  principally  with  brothers  and  sisters 
of  the  deceased  (and  sometimes  even  any  competent  person  of  the  same 
family,   but  from  another  town),  as  for  instance,  Kwaw  Ehura  Ako,  the 


Chapter  VIII.  113 

Okomfo  Aiiokye  (or  tlie  soothsaj'er  Anokye)  was  a  native  of  A- 
wukiigua  in  Akuapeni,  and  by  orig-in  of  the  Guan  tribe.  The  Guaii 
people  are  the  most  superstitious  tribe  on  the  Gold  Coast,  and  it 
was  through  Anokye,  as  it  appears,  that  superstition  and  fetishism 
was  introduced  into  the  Tshi  tribe.  Princes  of  the  Tshis  rule  by 
power  and  wit  generally,  whilst  the  princes  or  priests  of  the  Guans 
ruled  by  fetish  influence,  as  wall  be  seen  in  the  Ga  or  Akra  form 
of  government. 

As  the  government  of  the  Tshls  is  an  absolute  monarchy,  and 
the  political  as  well  as  military  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the  king, 
he  according  to  their  custom  arranges  his  subjects  into  three  prin- 
cipal divisions :  general  chiefs,  commanding  the  centre  force  or 
van,  and  the  right  and  left  wings;  and  also  two  other  divisions: 
chiefs  commanding  the  rear  and  the  body  guards.  These  five  di- 
visions constitute  the  kingdom.  In  all  political  and  military  matters, 
the  king  sits  with  these  generals  and  chiefs  of  the  different  divisions 
to  decide.  For  all  minor  cases,  he  sits  with  the  chiefs  and  captains 
of  his  body-guard,  \vho  reside  in  the  capital.  The  generals  also 
have  sub-chiefs  and  captains  under  them,  who  form  together  a  sort 
of  jurisdiction  under  the  king.  The  generals  and  captains  get  their 
appointments  directly  from  the  king,  who  also  increases  the  number 
of  warriors  to  every  new  general  or  captain,  enlarges  the  funds 
of  a  captain,  and  inherits  the  property,  a  part  or  the  whole  of  it. 
The  stools  of  the  general  chiefs  are  hereditary,  as  that  of  the  king; 
but  captains  are  often  appointed  by  election  or  merit. 

The  Ga  or  Akra  form  of  goverment  was  formerly  an  absolute 
fetishocracy.  In  it  the  supreme  power  was  formerly  directly,  and 
is  now  indirectly  lodged  in  the  hands  of  a  set  of  impostors  known 
as  foretelling  priests,  who  are  rightly  named  by  the  Akras  "wou- 
tsemei*'  i.e.  fathers  of  the  fetish  or  originators  of  fetishism.  Women 
are  also  admitted  to  be  members  of  this  class.  Originally  the  head- 
man among  the  foretelling  priests,  called  "lomo"  (now  corrupted 
into  "lumo",  a  title  now  given  to  kings,  rulers,  and  governors), 
seems  to  have  had  the  ruling  power  over  the  people.     Just  as  we 


first  king  of  Gomoa  Asen,  was  succeeded  by  Kus;v  Ada  of  Abora;  hence, 
when  there  is  no  brother,  the  nephew  takes  the  mother's  place.  In  this 
light,  we  find  no  vital  difference  in  the  form  of  succession  with  the  Tshi 
people  and  that  of  the  Akras.  The  lawful  son  is  the  lieu-  in  an  Akra 
family,  when  there  is  no  brother  or  sister,  whilst  in  the  state,  the  law- 
ful son  is  the  heir,  when  there  is  no  lawful  half-brother  of  the  deceased. 

8 


114  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

find  it  still  in  the  government  of  the  Angulas,  where  the  king  or 
^'kong"  (konge,  a  Danish  name  for  a  king)  is  the  chief  foretelling 
priest  of  their  national  high  fetish  Ligble,  who  assumes  the  govern- 
ment bj  the  fetish's  own  election  from  any  tribe  whatever,  and 
not  by  hereditary  right  or  by  the  people's  election.  Such  a  pro- 
phet-priest-king is  represented  by  an  ordinary  man  in  public;  the 
former  is  the  in-door-king.  But  by  an  undue  exercise  of  that  power, 
the  lomos  forfeited  that  privilege,  and  it  was  conferred  on  the  offi- 
ciating priests  of  the  national  high  fetish,  who  were  called  ''wu- 
lomo"  i.e.  fetish-man  or  fetish-servant.  And  thus  this  class  of  people 
became  the  ruling  family,  instead  of  the  former,  from  which  a  priest 
was  elected,  who  was  acknowledged  as  king  or  chief  in  every  town, 
and  had  to  serve  in  the  fetish-yard,  keep  the  place  clean  every 
day,  and  administer  the  holy  water  (some  leaves  and  water  in  a 
country  trough)  for  the  worshippers  to  wash  themselves  with  on 
fetish-days.  He  instructed  the  people  in  the  laws  of  the  fetish, 
ruled  over  the  people  according  to  the  instructions  of  the  fetish, 
offered  sacrifices  in  behalf  of  the  people,  and  prayed  for  them.  But 
such  priest-kings  were  ruled  by  the  advice  of  the  foretelling  priests, 
who  were  considered  as  the  mouth-piece  of  the  fetishes  or  their 
representatives,  as  through  them  the  whole  constitution  was  framed. 
Hence  the  government  of  the  Akras  was  a  fetish-hierarchy.  Some- 
times it  happened  that  the  priest-king  was  at  the  same  time  a 
member  of  the  foretellers.  In  such  cases,  the  government  was  an 
absolute  fetish-monarchy,  as  the  government  of  king  Okai  Koi  seems 
to  have  been;  he  possessed  three  important  powers  of  the  govern- 
ment. Hence  it  has  become  an  established  law  of  the  Akras,  that  the 
priest  who  is  the  king  should  never  be  a  member  of  the  foretellers, 
neither  should  any  one  of  the  latter  become  king.  Even  a  prince, 
becoming  a  foreteller  or  predictor,  forfeits  not  only  the  stool,  but 
also  his  becoming  a  "lomo"'  i.e.  the  acknowledged  principal  fore- 
teller or  prophet;  because  he  would  connive  at  the  tyranny  of  the 
ruling  family,  or  would  support  them  in  such  ways.  The  Akras 
are  not  ruled  directly  by  the  priest  or  king,  but  by  the  foretelling 
fetish-priests. 

The  form  of  government  somewhat  resembles  that  of  the  ancient 
Jews.  The  priest  might  be  also  a  prophet,  and  at  the  same  time  a 
judge,  as  we  see  with  Samuel.  When  the  Israelites  asked  for  a  king, 
and  Saul  was  appointed,  the  three  offices  became  separated. 

Coming  into  contact  with  the  European  and  Tshi  forms  of  gov- 


Chapter  VIII.  115 

ernment,  that  of  Akra  became  more  patriarchal.  The  Akra  king 
was  at  the  same  time  the  priest  of  the  national  high  fetish.  Bnt 
gradually,  to  avoid  violation  of  the  sacredness  of  the  priest  in  ap- 
pearing often  in  public,  and  especially  when  the  seat  of  government 
was  removed  from  Ayavvaso  to  the  coast,  the  two  powers  were 
separated.  The  priest  retained  his  priestly  stool,  and  the  honour 
of  a  king  was  conferred  by  the  priest  on  a  second  person,  who  is 
held  as  a  vassal  to  the  fetishes  and  is  under  the  priest.  For  that 
honour  conferred,  the  king  has  to  undergo  any  expense  to  get  a 
wife  lawfully  married  for  the  priest;  when  the  priest  dies,  the  king 
is  bound  to  sleep  and  watch  in  the  fetish-house,  until  he  has  got 
a  new  priest  in  his  room.  The  priests  are  the  owners  of  the  lands 
in  and  about  the  town  by  right,  as  it  was  among  the  Egyptians  in 
ancient  times,  because  the  lagoons  which  are  held  as  fetishes,  and 
whose  priests  they  are,  were  in  the  land  prior  to  the  immigration 
of  the  inhabitants.  But  the  king  retained  the  political  power;  yet 
the  foretelHng  priests  exercise  their  influence  over  both  priests 
and  kings. 

The  office  of  a  king  or  priest  is  hereditary;  they  are  succeeded 
by  their  half-brothers,  whose  mother  was  lawfully  married,  or  by 
their  lawful  sons.  The  Tshls  are  succeeded  by  their  brothers  or 
nephews,  according  to  the  age  of  the  mothers,  i.e.  the  son  of  the 
elder  sister  succeeds  the  uncle;  after  him,  the  son  of  the  second 
sister,  thus  throughout  the  family.  Sometimes  the  succession  is 
left  entirely  to  the  sons  of  a  single  sister.  With  the  Akras,  the 
son  inherits  the  stool  only,  but  the  nephews  the  estate,  imitating 
the  Tshis;  though  both  nations  had  the  same  law  of  succession,  till 
the  Tshls  changed  theirs,  as  already  remarked.  Formerly  no  one 
was  made  a  king  or  priest,  unless  he  had  performed  the  custom 
of  "kromotsunwo"  or  *'butunwo"  (a  custom  which  entitles  one  to 
have  access  to  the  fetish-house,  a  rank  among  his  company,  and 
to  wear  sandals  and  use  an  umbrella),  and  had  taken  a  wife  accord- 
ing to  the  established  law  of  the  countr3%  If  the  one  to  be  nomi- 
nated as  king  or  priest  had  not  performed  these  customs,  the  chiefs 
and  elders  would  undergo  the  expense  before  he  was  appointed. 

In  former  days  the  priest  had  a  good  revenue  from  runaway 
slaves  protected  with  the  fetish;  he  got  presents  from  influential 
and  rich  people,  who  either  washed  themselves  with  holy  water, 
or  made  vows  in  sickness  or  in  any  undertaking.  The  priest  of 
Nai  (sea)  could  claim  a  duty  of  ^  16  =  ^  3.12  and  rum  from  every 

8* 


116  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

captain  anchoring  in  the  roads  at  Akra,  besides  annual  presents 
from  the  merchants  &c.  The  ferrying  of  Sakumo  was  the  large 
revenue  to  the  king  and  the  priest  of  Sakumo;  the  rate  of  ferrying 
was:  25  strings  of  cowries  for  a  slave,  a  bullock  and  ivory;  five 
strings  for  a  sheep,  and  two  strings  per  man. 

The  rate  was  raised  afterwards  to  one  head  of  cowries  for  a  slave* 
a  bullock,  and  ivory,  and  12  strings  a  sheep.  At  that  time  all  the  great 
merchants,  such  as  a  Mr.  Hansen,  Mr.  Bannerman,  Mr.  Richter  and  some 
Europeans,  offered  each  a  passbook  to  the  king,  in  which  accounts  of 
their  people  running  up  and  down  were  kept,  and  paid  quarterly.  At 
present  the  rate  is  one  shilling  for  a  bullock,   and  3'^    per  man. 

The  amount  collected  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  belongs  to  the 
priest;  that  on  Wednesday,  Thursday,  Friday  and  Saturda.y,  to  the 
king  and  chiefs;  and  that  on  Sunday  to  the  ferrj'^-men.  The  priest 
of  Lakpa  claims  the  whole  property  of  people  dying  in  August  and 
September,  in  Labade,  Teshi  and  part  of  Christiansborg.  The  priest 
of  Oyeadu  at  Akra  claims  the  whole  property  of  women  dying  in 
child-birth.  The  fishermen  collect  two  porgies  (per  canoe)  for  the 
king  and  priest  of  Nai  in  August  and  September.  No  tax  is  levied 
for  cultivation  of  the  land.  Besides  these  petty  incomes,  the  chiefs 
collect  small  fines  from  people  summoned  to  their  courts. 

The  Tshis  are  very  exact  in  collecting  tribute  and  lines,  from 
their  subjects.  When  gold  is  dug  and  a  nugget  is  obtained,  the 
king  claims  one  third  of  it.    They  are  able  rulers  and  administrators. 

There  are  three  sources  from  which  the  revenue  is  collected: 
1)  The  conquered  states  have  to  pay  annual  fixed  tributes  in  human 
beings,  cattle,  poultry,  and  native  manufactured  cloths.  Of  the 
human  beings,  some  are  kept  for  domestic  purposes,  some  are  en- 
listed as  soldiers,  and  the  rest  sold  for  public  expenses.  2)  Swear- 
ing of  oaths.  If  one  swears  the  oaths  Kgromante  (in  memory  of 
the  death  of  Osei  Tutu  in  1730),  Memeneda  (death  of  Osei  Bonsu 
in  1823)  and  Ntamkese  (Adahkese,  also  of  Osei  Tutu's  death),  — 
the  fine  is  110  peredwans  each,  in  Asante.  Of  the  oaths:  Kwadu- 
twum  of  Dwaben  (in  memory  of  Osei  Atweree's  murder  in  1743); 
Oduroman  of  Nsuta;  Yawda  of  Mampong;  "Bekwae-hohtwuma" 
of  Bekwae,  —  the  fines  vary  from  20 — 30  peredwans  each.  Of 
the  oaths:  Kwanyako  (death  of  Ata  and  his  chiefs  by  small-pox 
in  October  1811)  or  Ahenebanimsubri  and  Wukuda,  all  of  Akem, 
the  fine  formerly  was  20  peredwans,  but  is  now  ^  1.10.  Of  the  A- 
kuapem  oaths:   Sokodei,  Kwabenyan,    Wukuda,   and  Ntamkoko  or 


Chapter   VIII.  117 

Sareso,  the  fines  vary  from  ^'3  to  10  or  even  30;  the  latter  is  strictly 
forbidden.  Mankata-Wukuda  in  Fante  (in  memory  of  Sir  Charles 
Mc  Carthy's  death  in  1824),  the  fine  formerly  was  ^  32.  Of  the  oaths: 
Momotshe  Tong-,  Ga-Hogba,  Ahantang,  Okaidsha-adeka,  Osu-So, 
Tgdshei,  &c.  of  Akra,  —  the  fines  vary  from  ^  32  to  32  shillings. 
Swearing  of  oaths  has  nearly  disappeared  in  Fante  and  Akra,  and 
people  are  only  summoned  before  kings,  chiefs,  and  English  Courts. — 
3)  Swearing  by  the  king's  life  or  by  a  deceased  king  (Taramekese) 
is  punished  with  death  in  Asante,  but  in  all  other  states  the  parties 
are  heavily  fined. 

The  king's  officials  and  household  servants  (ahenkoa)  scour  the 
country  to  collect  fines  from  people  who  have  sworn  the  oaths  or 
are  going  to  swear  them. 

As  Christianity  is  introduced  and  people  are  getting  more  en- 
lightened, especially  as  the  Gold  Coast  has  become  an  English  Col- 
ony, the  priests  are  much  neglected  and  left  with  very  small  re- 
venues on  which  they  can  hardly  subsist.  Kor  are  the  kings  and 
chiefs  much  better  off,  for  they  are  also  losing  their  power  on  account 
of  the  infiuence  of  Christianity.  The  Constitution  has  run  out 
its  three  stages:  the  prophet-stage,  in  which  the  foretelling  priest 
held  the  reins ;  the  priest-stage,  in  which  the  high-priest  of  the 
national  fetish  had  the  reins;  and  the  king-stage.  The  best  method, 
therefore,  left  to  the  educated  community  is,  to  reorganize  the  whole 
structure  of  government  on  Christian  principles,  before  we  shall 
be  acknowledged  as  a  nation. 

The  power  of  the  priest  over  lands  and  revenues  is  gradually  fall- 
ing into  the  hands  of  the  kings.  However,  the  chiefs  of  every 
quarter  in  a  town  claim  a  right  over  any  piece  of  land  belonging 
to  the  quarter,  as  defenders  and  protectors  of  those  sites.  Hence 
a  quarter  near  the  sea-shore  generally  has  less  land.  Hence  it  is 
self-evident,  why  the  whole  territory  of  the  Akwamus  was  not 
occupied  by  the  Akras,  after  the  former  had  been  driven  from  it, 
but  allowed  to  be  sold  back  to  them  by  Akwamu  refugees.  If  kings 
had  been  owners  of  lands  from  the  beginning,  that  could  never 
have  taken  place. 

Both  forms  of  government  had  nearly  the  same  character,  when 
the  European  form  was  not  known.  The  TshTs  under  Asante  as- 
sumed the  despotic  form  of  their  masters,  but  the  coast  tribes  grad- 
ually moderated  theirs,  till  at  last  it  assumed  the  patriarchal  form. 

The  Akras    are    divided   into   two   parts:     I.    Akra  proper,   with 


118  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

seven  towns:  James  Town,  Dutch  (or  Ussher)  Town,  Christiansborg, 
La  (Labade),  Teshi,  Ningowa,  Tema;  and  11.  Adangme,  also  with 
ten  towns.  These  17  towns  formed  the  kingdom  of  Akra  with  a- 
bout  100,000  inhabitants  at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Katamansu. 
But  when  adding  Obutu,  which  is  a  brother  tribe  of  the  Akras, 
and  the  Volta  towns,  acknowledging  Taki  as  their  king,  we  may 
say,  there  are  now  about  200,000  inhabitants.  Every  chief  was  at 
liberty  to  make  some  by-laws  and  settle  disputes  in  his  town;  but 
all  difficult  cases  were  submitted  to  the  king  in  Dutch  Town,  before 
this  place  had  become  an  English  Colony. 

The  Akra  form  of  government  may  be  said  to  consist  of  three  di- 
visions. The  king  or  chief  and  his  grandees  have  to  make  their  own 
laws  for  the  town  people,  and  have  the  political  power  in  their 
hands.  The  military  power  is  partially  vested  in  the  principal  head- 
men of  the  quarters  in  a  town,  known  as  Akuashong.  But  they 
cannot  undertake  to  make  war,  unless  the  chief  with  his  grandees 
sanctions  it.  The  last  power  is  vested  in  the  companies,  who  also 
transfer  any  difficult  case  to  the  assembly  of  the  principal  headmen 
or  "akuashong".  They  even  have  to  submit  such  difficult  cases  to 
the  chief  and  his  grandees.  If  a  war  case,  it  is  reported  to  the 
king:  in  Ussher  Town  and  submitted  to  his  decision,  and  then  it 
becomes  a  general  concern  of  all  the  Akras.  Although  the  king 
of  Ussher  Town  is  the  head  of  all  the  petty  chiefs,  yet  in  times 
of  war  every  individual  man  has  to  provide  himself  with  arms, 
ammunition,  &c.  to  carry  on  the  war;  for  there  are  no  public  funds 
for  that  purpose.  The  Akuashong,  having  the  military  power,  lay 
in  store  for  self-defence  a  good  quantity  of  powder  and  lead  against 
sudden  emergencies.  The  king  and  all  the  chiefs  and  influential 
men  also  lay"  in  store  some  quantity  of  powder  and  lead  for  per- 
sonal defence.  Every  youth  of  the  age  of  sixteen  is  bound  to  buy 
a  gun  or  gets  one  from  his  father,  otherwise  he  is  never  esteemed 
a  man  worthy  of  his  country,  and  the  company,  to  which  he  may 
belong,  look  down  upon  him.  The  general  mode  of  exercising  one- 
self in  the  use  of  fire-arms  is  either  by  hunting,  or  at  the  funeral 
custom,  when  guns  are  fired  in  honour  of  the  deceased. 

When  the  Danes,  Dutch  and  English  had  their  respective  govern- 
ments on  the  Coast,  the  consent  of  each  government  was  necessary 
before  their  subjects  could  take  part  in  a  general  war  of  the  Akras. 
But  otherwise  each  government  had  to  carry  on  war  alone  with 
its  subjects. 


Chapter  VI II.  119 

TheTshis  alone  have  an  organized  order  in  their  army.  They  have 
special  captains  appointed  for  the  main  divisions:  the  van.  the  right 
and  left  wings,  and  the  rear.  The  kings  of  Asante  have  not  only  to 
appoint  captains  over  their  army,  but  they  have  to  organize  it  and  also 
to  increase  it,  as  the  occasion  may  be.  Before  a  captain  is  appointed, 
the  king  has  to  collect  recruits  in  readiness.  They  may  be  either  cap- 
tives of  a  recent  war,  or  his  own  subjects  whom  he  bought  as  slaves 
when  they  failed  to  pay  a  certain  sum  imposed  on  them  as  a  fine 
for  an  oath  they  had  sworn,  or  they  may  have  been  bequeathed 
to  him  by  a  deceased  chief  or  captain.  Over  a  number  of  from 
500 — ^1000  men  thus  obtained,  the  king  appoints  a  captain,  on  which 
occasion  a  grand  public  meeting  is  held,  and  the  body  of  men  pre- 
sented to  the  captain  as  his  soldiers  and  slaves.  Those  subjects 
bought  have  to  remain  in  their  own  towns,  but  the  captives  have 
to  stay  permanently  in  the  town  of  the  captain,  whilst  himself  stays 
in  the  capital.  Other  presents  are  made  to  the  captain  by  the  king, 
a  name  is  given  to  the  band  or  ^^asafo",  and  now  the  captain  and 
his  men  are  handed  over  to  any  of  the  generals  over  the  five  main 
divisions. 

The  following  are  the  different  bands  or  "asafo"  which  have  been 
instituted  by  the  kings  of  Asante  : 

1.  OseiTutu:  Koronti,  Akwamu,  Asakara,  Kyidom,  Dumakae,  and 

Samang. 

2.  Opoku  Ware:  Ananta,  Koronko,  and  Fante. 

3.  Kwisi  Bodum :  Nkonsong. 

4.  Osei  Kwadwo :  Asabi,  Apagya,  and  Hyiawu. 

5.  Osei  Kwame:  Apagya,  and  Ankobea. 

6.  Osei  Bonsu :  AtenI,  Akomfode,  Atipiri,  Anamarako,  Apente,  Pi- 

aiikg,  and  Anumsa. 

7.  Osei-Yaw :  Apesemaka. 

8.  Kwaku  Dua:    Mawere,  captain:   Berentuo;    Nkonsong,   capt.  O- 

wusu  Ansa  Titrawa;   Asabi,  capt.  Boakye;  Ayebiakyere,  capt. 

Kwasi  Gyambibi;   Somehene,  capt.   Akwasi  Abayie;   Ampoti, 

capt.    Osei    Hj^eaman;    Twidom,    capt.   Osubri;    and   Pinkye- 

domko,  capt.  Kofi  Dei. 
But  the  Akras  have  to  arrange  themselves  according  to  their 
towns  along  the  Coast.  In  truth,  they  are  naturally  brave,  but  the 
only  organization  existing  in  their  army  is  made  up  by  the  different 
companies  or  bands  existing  in  every  town.  It  ma}''  be  interesting 
to  give  a  short  account  of  the  different  bands,  their  names,  and  how 


120  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

the  drum  of  each  band  is  beaten.  The  sound  and  meaning  of  the 
beating  is  mostly  important  on  the  field  of  battle  to  avoid  collision. 
Although  there  are  more  than  two  dozen  bands  known  in  the  country, 
one  dozen  will  suttice  for  an  illustration.     They  are: 

1.  Asonkofo  —  Independent  band. 

2.  Apagyafo  —  Fire-striking  band. 

3.  Akgmfode  —  Priestly  band. 

4.  Amferefo  —  Audacious  band. 

5.  Atuafo  —  Attacking  band. 

6.  Ntiafo  —  Kicking  band. 

7.  Kyiramimfo  —  Fraud-detesting  band. 

8.  Ohwammirifo  —  Black  king-fisher's  band. 

9.  Ampotifo  —  Stand-to-no-trash  band. 

10.  Apesemakafo  —  Otiicious  band. 

11.  Piankofo  —  Invincible  band. 

12.  Ahkobeafo  —  Body-guard  band. 

Each  band  has  its  peculiar  symbolical  mottoes  for  beating  the 
drum;  yet  other  symbols  are  often  added  to  that  by  the  skilfulness 
of  the  drummer. 

1.  The  independent  baud  beats  the  drum:  "Bu-aso,  bu-aso  ne  yeir^ 
kurotwiamansa  ba,  mmu  no  abofra!"  Which  is:  We  are  axe- 
breakers;  a  leopard's  cub  should  not  be  deemed  a  boy  (should  not 
be  disrespected). 

2.  The  tire-striking  band  beats :  "Ogya  framframfram  (fwerenfwereh- 
fweren)!  Yeforo  ekoko  bi,  yeasiaii  ekoko  bi;  yebeforo  ekoko  bi  a 
niuiare  wo  so!"  Brilliant  tire!  we  ascend  a  hill,  we  descend  a  hill, 
and  will  ascend  a  hill  upon  which  is  a  bush  full  of  thorns. 

3.  The  priestly  band:  "Opoku  takyi,  odoto  rehitn!  Yenom  nsu  mere 
enam  wo;  yeadah  kyikyiku."'  Chief  pelican,  the  dense  bush  is 
shaking;  we  drink  water  where  fishes  abound,  we  have  become 
a  torpedo. 

4.  The  audacious  band:  ''Wosu,  wosii,  wofre  yen ;  yekum  onipa  a, 
yeyi  n'abasa."  When  weeping,  upon  us  they  call;  when  we  kill  a 
man,  we  take  off  his  arms! 

5.  The  attacking  band :  ^'Kyere  onipa,  kita  onipa,  yebo  osonoba 
to !"  Catch  a  man,  take  hold  of  him,  we  beat  the  hinder  part  of 
an  elephant's  cub. 

6.  The  kicking  l)and :  ^'Hona  beka,  bona  beka,  bona  beka  yeiiT^ 
Who  dares  to  touch,  wb.o  dares  to  touch,  who  dares  to  touch  us? 


Chapter    VIII.  121 

7.  The  fraud-detesting- band :  "Kuntum,  okuntumpa,  kekagu!  Yeko 
jempira."  Hyena,  hyena,  bite  and  throw  off;  we  tight,  but  are  not 
wounded. 

8.  Black  kingfisher's  band :  ''Oiiipa  reko,  onipa  reto,  onipa  repira."' 
A  man  fights,  and  a  man  is  killed,  and  another  is  wounded. 

9.  The  stand-to-no-trash  band:  ''Wotwe  no  bebrebe  a,  emma,  pini 
do!"    When  you  draw  it  excessively,  you  cannot  get  it;  clear  off  I 

10.  Otiftcious  band:  'Tope  asem  aka,  yepe  oko  ako!"  We  wish  for 
a  case  to  settle  and  a  battle  to  fight. 

11.  The  invincible  band  :  ^'Mogya  regu,  mogya  regu,  mogya  regu." 
Blood  is  being  spilled. 

12.  The  body-guard  band :  "Masiesie  meho,  meweu  meho,  enam 
m'akyi,  enam  m'anim,  na  mede  te  ha  yi."  I  have  prepared  my- 
self, I  keep  guard  of  myself,  they  walk  behind  me  and  walk  before 
me;  hence  I  stay  here. 

Not  only  by  the  drums  of  the  different  bands  s^'mbolical  mottoes 
and  designs  are  displayed,  but  they  are  also  to  be  found  in  the 
beating  of  the  kings'  or  chiefs'  state-drums  as  weAl  as  in  the  flags, 
and  on  swords  and  state-umbrellas.  In  order  to  make  these  signs 
(symbols,  emblems,  devices)  better  understood,  we  classify  them 
as  showing  ofltice,  rivalry,  nobility,  heroism,  incompetence,  reliance 
on  providence,  &c.  Signs  indicating  office:  a  state-umbrella  with 
a  sword  on  the  top  of  it,  belongs  to  the  king's  sword-bearer ;  such 
a  captain  is  allowed  to  beat  his  drum :  ''So  akofra !  I  carry  the  war- 
sword."  Of  rivalry: — ^  One  of  the  horns  of  king  Dowuona  sounds: 
"Gyan  kokroko,  m'ani  wo  ko  so!  Great  or  excellent  Gyang,  my 
mind  is  upon  war!"  To  this  the  rival  chief  responds,  also  by  a  horn: 
"Asem  kankah  (wokae  kuu),  mma  wo  were  nimfi  o !  Never  forget 
what  you  have  said  before"  i.e.  your  mind  being  upon  war,  for  I 
am  prepared  for  it.  Of  nobility: —  a  rich  and  powerful  king  would 
have  a  horn  to  blow:  ''Otamfo,  kata  w'ani!  Cover  thy  face,  thou 
envious  man."  To  which  is  responded :  "Yeboa  Oko  birempgu, 
obirempoh  ba  obirempou,  meye  odehye  dadada.  The  noble  Yeboa 
Oko,  the  oftspring  of  nobles,  I  am  already  noble  !"  Of  heroism  :  — 
the  horn  of  Boaten,  the  king  of  DVvabeu,  is :  ^'Woye  okatakyi,  wo- 
ye  obarima!  You  are  brave,  you  are  a  valiant  man!" —  Of  in- 
competence:—  a  chief  may  pretend  to  fight  with  another  chief,  who 
is  not  his  equal  in  power,  and  orders  this  to  blow:  "So  dae  ye  atoro, 
so  dae  ye  atoro  papa,  Dreaming  is  really  a  falsehood."  The  late 
king  Karikari   of  Kumase,   upon    his  accession    to    the  stool,   deter- 


122  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

niined  to  fight  against  the  English  Government.  He  ordered  one 
of  his  executioners  to  extol  him  thus:  ^'Karikari  gjambi,  Ayeboafo 
a  ode  ntutea  beko  aperem  ano.  i.e.  Karikari  hero,  the  champion 
who  will  fight  at  the  mouth  of  cannons  with  his  narrow  guns." 
When  Sir  John  Glover  entered  his  capital  with  his  forces,  Karikari, 
who  boasted  to  fight  the  English,  had  run  away.  In  his  palace 
one  of  his  favoured  horns  had  been  left  behind;  it  was  brought  to 
chief  Kwadwo  Mensa  of  Aburi.  Then  and  there  the  chief  ordered 
one  of  his  retainers  to  blow:  ''Karikari,  woye  korokoro,  Karikari, 
woye  korokoro  kwa!"'  which  means:  Karikari,  you  are  a  prattler, 
Karikari,  you  are  a  vain  talkative  fellow.  Thus  we  see  what  the  beat- 
ing of  drums  and  blowing  of  horns  mean.  When  in  an  assembly  of 
kings  and  chiefs  such  a  display  of  nobility,  heroism,  &c.  are  extolled, 
then  the  horn  of  King  Taki  sounds  in  a  broad  tone:  "Kpo  avuo, 
kpg  avuo  tome!"  which  means:  Just  look  at  the  ears  of  these  dogs! 
No  chief  is  allowed  to  imitate  the  symbol  of  another  band,  unless 
the  one  has  been  conquered  or  has  willingly  permitted  it. 

What  keeps  the  warriors  together  in  time  of  war,  are  the  flags 
and  drums  of  the  bands,  or  the  tune  of  the  horn  of  the  king  or 
chief.  Where  the  flag  and  drum  are,  there  the  captains  are  found. 
The  Hags  and  drums  keep  the  men  of  the  band  together,  whilst 
the  tune  of  the  horn  keeps  the  whole  body  of  a  town  together, 
otherwise  every  warrior  stays  with  his  own  relations  in  camp. 

The  bands  are  more  for  defensive  than  offensive  warfare,  hence 
no  captain  can  command  his  men  to  attack  an  enemy  without  first 
consulting  the  Akuashong.  But  an  Asante  captain  has  the  power 
over  his  men  for  defensive  or  offensive  warfare. 

Furthermore  it  is  most  necessary,  that  every  band  must  have  a 
fetish  of  its  own,  be  it  their  drum  or  anything  else  converted  and 
consecrated  as  such  by  the  company,  —  and  that  every  such  fetish- 
drum  thus  consecrated,  dedicates  a  member  of  the  band  as  its  own 
foretelling  priest,  b}^  whom  future  events  are  made  known  to  the 
company,  and  sacrifices  also  made  in  their  behalf  in  times  of  peace. 

In  times  of  war  every  member  of  each  baud  has  to  apply  to  his 
own  priest,  or  sometimes  to  another  priest,  for  advice,  for  charms, 
for  medicines  &c.,  and  also  for  what  sacrifices  are  to  be  offered  to 
insure  his  safety  during  the  campaign.  Thus  no  warrior  ever  joins 
an  army  without  first  consulting  the  priest  at  home,  although  the 
priest  is  bound  to  accompany  the  band  whose  foretelling  priest  he 
is,  when  engaged  in  war,   there  also  acting  as  their  adviser,   fore- 


Chapter  VIII.  12,3 

teller,  doctor,  &c.  Thus  it  is  obvious  what  sort  of  influence  the 
foretelling^  priests  exercise,  not  only  on  the  government,  social  life 
&c.,  but  also  in  the  wars  of  the  Akras  and  nearly  all  the  other 
tribes.  All  such  fetishes  of  the  different  bands  have  their  time 
fixed  during-  the  3'ear  for  holding  feasts  in  their  honour. 

An  individual  person  has  not  only  to  prepare  himself  for  war, 
as  above-stated,  but  before  the  movement  of  the  warriors  to  camp, 
the  king  and  his  chiefs  have  to  meet  to  ''boil'"  the  war.  Which 
means,  any  known  and  acknowledged  fetish-priest  will  be  sought 
after,  who  will  be  consulted  as  to  the  success  of  the  campaign. 
With  the  Akras,  Sakumo  is  the  principal  war-fetish,  whose  oracles 
must  be  obtained,  as  will  be  stated  in  ch.  XIV.,  when  he  sanctions 
and  shows  all  sacrifices  to  be  offered  before  the  war  is  ''boiled", 
either  by  a  priest  of  his,  or  any  one  whose  magical  powers  are 
universally  acknowledged.  The  whole  transaction  on  such  occasions 
resembles  what  we  read  in  the  Scriptures  of  Balak,  the  son  of  Zippor? 
the  king  of  the  Moabites,  in  sending  for  Balaam  to  practise  enchant- 
ment against  Israel.     Numb.  XXII — XXIV. 

The  king  and  his  principal  chiefs  meet  one  night  with  the  priest; 
the  necessary  things  required  for  the  sacrifice  have  been  provided. 
A  large  pot  is  set  on  fire;  the  names  or  souls  of  the  principal  and 
powerful  men  of  the  enemy  are  called  out  and  caught  by  means 
of  enchantment.  For  every  name,  a  piece  of  stone  or  an}^  other 
thing  is  taken  to  represent  it,  and  then  put  into  the  pot.  When 
all  are  thus  named,  represented  and  caught,  some  leaves  and  other 
things  are  added  to  them  in  the  pot  to  get  boiled.  When  boiling, 
if  the  pot  happens  to  burst,  then  the  enemy  is  more  powerful.  The 
practice  is  repeated,  till  they  are  satisfie-J  that  the  enemy  is  got 
weakened.  After  this  every  body  feels  encouraged  and  spirited  to 
fight  and  conquer. 

Every  warrior  in  leaving  his  wife,  relatives  and  friends  to  go  to 
war,  must  get  presents  from  them.  These  presents  are  given  under 
the  idea  of  showing  their  last  respects,  love  and  honour  to  the 
warrior,  so  that,  if  he  should  no  more  return,  they  had  done  their 
part  in  his  burial.  Precious  beads  of  every  description  and  gold 
jewels  are  tied  to  the  warriors  wrist,  arm,  knee,  or  neck.  When 
slain  in  battle,  the  body  is  to  be  buried  with  those  presents,  yet 
a  finger,  toe,  hair,  finger-nail,  &c.,  must  be  preserved  as  relic  for 
general  interment  at  home.  At  the  funeral  an  ordinary  coffin  is 
made  for  such  a  relic,  and  it  is  buried  as  if  it  were  the  whole  body. 


124  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

Besides  this  practice,  the  national  fetishes  are  ail  consulted,  who 
will  show  different  kinds  of  sacrifices  to  be  made  to  insure  safety 
and  success.  The  Akuashong  elders  will  also  enquire  oracles  from 
their  company's  fetish,  and  the  family  and  the  individual  fetishes 
are  likewise  consulted  and  worshipped  before  war  is  undertaken. 
For  there  are  four  different  classes  of  fetishes:  the  national,  those 
of  the  family  (or  quarter),  those  of  the  band  (company),  and  the 
personal  fetishes  and  charms. 

Another  means  of  keeping  a  whole  army,  the  commander-in-chief, 
the  generals  and  captains  &c.,  as  well  as  allied  forces  together  in 
time  of  war,  is  the  oath  of  allegiance,  sworn  before  the  campaign 
is  undertaken. 

The  oath  of  allegiance  is  of  two  kinds,  and  is  administered  in 
two  different  manners.  A  subject  in  swearing  an  oath  of  allegiance, 
appeals  solemnly  to  his  majesty's  or  commander's  being;  by  holding 
a  sword  in  his  right  hand,  and  pointing  the  handle  towards  the 
face  of  the  king,  he  declares  his  obligation  of  taking  the  field  in 
his  behalf  or  by  his  orders.  The  king  does  the  same;  pointing  the 
sword,  and  not  the  handle,  he  affirms  his  readiness  to  support  the 
subject  on  such  occasions  to  the  uttermost  of  his  ability. 

The  second  mode  of  swearing  the  oath  of  allegiance  is  done  ger.- 
erally  by  a  new  king  or  chief  entering  into  alliance  with  the  king. 
Which  being  more  important,  the  oath  is  taken  by  a  ceremony 
commonly  called  "to  eat  fetish."  The  powerful  fetish  of  the  country 
or  town  is  applied  for;  a  potion  is  prepared  by  washing  apart  or 
the  whole  of  the  fetish  with  water.  The  allied  king  meets  in 
public,  and  after  due  religions  ceremony  the  potion  is  offered 
to  him  to  drink.  Before  he  drinks,  he  solemnly  appeals  to  the 
fetish,  to  bring  judgment  upon  him,  if  he  disregards  the  oath. 
Sometimes  the  king  also  swears  the  oath  of  allegiance  himself  or 
by  a  representative,  by  drinking  a  potion  of  the  ally's  own  fetish 
in  recognizance  of  their  mutual  fidelity.  The  forfeit  of  this  oath, 
by  cowardness  or  otherw^ise,  is  death  in  Asante,  in  the  Protectorate, 
an  eternal  infamy  on  the  family  and  town. 

Symholical  means  of  communication. 
All  the  Africans  not  possessing  the  art  of  communication  by  writ- 
ing,   use  several  things   to  impart   their  thoughts  to  others,   which 
things  are   more   or   less    falling  into   disuse,   as  people  come  into 
contact  with  Europeans;  hence  the  Akras  have  lost  nearly  all  they 


Chapter  VIII.  125 

4sed  in  ancient  times.  There  are  many  still,  which  by  careltol  ex- 
amination can  be  found  in  their  religious  worship;  but  to  know 
them  requires  a  good  length  of  time. 

1.  Three  green  leaves  of  the  palmbranch,  formed  into  a  triangle 
by  tying  knots  at  the  three  points  of  meeting.  When  this  triangle, 
called  '^akyere-mmerenkensono"  by  the  Tshis  (Asante,  Dankera, 
Akuapem  &c.),  is  put  on  as  a  necklace  at  the  funeral  of  a  chief, 
king  or  queen,  it  means  that  the  wearer  is  to  be  sacrificed  to  at- 
tend the  deceased  in  the  other  world.  Another  one,  made  of  date- 
palm  leaves,  dyed  red,  is  called  ^'komi"  by  the  Akras.  It  signifies 
a  solemn  act  of  dedicating,  as  well  as  devoting  one's  self  to,  and 
for  the  service  of,  a  certain  national  high  fetish.  When  a  wife  is 
to  be  sought  for  a  new  priest  of  Lakpa,  this  symbol  is  placed  on 
the  neck  of  a  camwood-girl  in  any  town  whatever,  and  she  is  thereby 
obliged  (even  betrothed)  to  become  the  wife  of  the  priest. 

2.  A  dark  red  cloth  called  "adinkra"  or  "okobeu"  is  a  symbol 
of  death  or  grief.  It  is  employed  to  announce  the  death  of  a  chief, 
king  or  queen ;  because  a  king's  death  is  never  announced  by  mere 
words.  A  relative,  son,  daughter  or  servant  of  a  deceased  chief 
wearing  such  a  stuff,  and  chewing  cola-nut,  informs  every  chief  or 
people  to  whom  he  or  she  is  sent,  that  the  king  is  dead. 

3.  A  single  grass  broken  in  two  and  placed  before  a  superior, 
judge  or  king,  suggests  pardon  or  excuse.  This  symbol  is  used  in 
courts  and  public  assemblies.  If  one  is  before  a  king  or  judge, 
and  wishes  to  utter  an  unpleasant  word  which  may  be  taken  as 
an  offence,  he  places  this  symbol  before  the  superior,  and  all  of- 
fensive words  arc  pardonable. 

4.  Any  kind  of  leaf  placed  between  the  lips  is  a  symbol  of  silence. 
An  ambassador  returning  from  a  foreign  court  and  having  a  leaf 
in  the  mouth,  shows  his  inability  to  express  the  message  he  brought. 
The  king  has  to  swear  an  oath  to  him,  that  in  uttering  any  abusive 
words  he  is  not  held  responsible.  After  which  he  speaks  freely. 
A  leaf  so  placed  in  the  mouth  is  a  sign  not  to  address  persons 
attending  sick  people  and  obliged  sometimes  to  come  out;  as  their 
being  talked  to  by  any  inipure  person  would  impair  the  power 
of  the  medicine  by  which  the  patient  is  to  be  healed. 

5.  Bullet  and  corn  are  symbols  of  war  and  peace.  If  a  king- 
wishes  to  make  war  with  another  nation,  he  sends  these  symbols 
to  the  enemy.  When  the  bullet  is  chosen,  war  is  declared;  if  the 
corn,  he  asks  for  peace.     Bullet  represents  death,  and  corn,  life. 


126  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

6.  Two  pieces  of  firewood  mean  submission  to  servitude.  In  time 
of  war,  when  the  defeated  party  wants  to  express  their  submission, 
and  negotiate  for  peace,  such  a  symbol  is  used.  Hence  in  times 
of  peace,  especially  during  "Homowo"  (the  yearly  feast  of  the  A- 
kras),  firewood,  in  connection  with  other  presents,  is  given  by  in- 
feriors to  their  masters. 

7.  White  clay,  "ayilo",  is  a  symbol  of  justification  or  guiltlessness, 
whilst  charcoal  repesents  guilt  or  wrong.  Formerly  our  kings  in 
passing  sentence  of  right  and  wrong,  used,  and  are  using  now,  such 
symbols,  without  even  expressing  the  sentence  in  words.  Sometimes 
the  sentence  is  passed  in  words,  after  which  the  symbol  is  used 
on  the  head  and  the  right  arm. 

8.  Different  sorts  of  precious  beads,  strung  together  into  a  lace 
of  about  six  feet  long  and  worth  about  ^  300,  called  "kyekyere- 
kona",  is  used  in  reconciling  parties,  or  when  a  king  or  queen  feels 
unhapp3'  and  would  not  accept  any  comfort,  it  is  placed  on  his  or 
her  neck  and  is  sure  to  soothe.  When  a  king  is  taking  a  walk 
in  town  with  his  servants,  he  sometimes  on  coming  to  a  certain 
place  will  close  his  eyes  and  will  not  walk,  becoming  blind 
by  his  royal  dignity.  As  soon  as  the  news  of  this  reaches  the 
queen  mother,  she  sends  this  symbol,  which  must  be  placed  on  his 
neck,  before  he  will  open  his  eyes  and  walk.  When  a  general  is 
sent  on  a  war  expedition,  and  fails  to  conquer,  he  will  not  return 
home  for  shame,  unless  this  necklace  is  sent  to  him. 

9.  Cowries.  —  By  as  many  cowries  as  are  strung  together  and 
placed  around  the  middle  leg  of  a  stool,  the  number  of  slaves  a 
man  possesses  is  indicated. 

10.  Leaves  or  grass  are  used  in  travelling  to  show  the  right  path 
to  those  who  follow.  The  one  gone  before  will  place  these  signs 
on  the  path  he  avoids,  and  leave  the  right  path  free. 

11.  A  wisp  of  grass  from  a  roof  is  used  when  calling  on  a  friend 
and  not  finding  him  at  home.  The  grass  is  put  down  near  the 
door,  or  stuck  into  the  key-hole. 

12.  A  single  red  shell  (lami)  on  a  string  as  a  necklace  is  a  sym- 
bol of  becoming  mute  after  many  troubles,  either  by  repeated  deaths 
in  the  family  or  any  other  calamity.  When  hostile  parties  are  re- 
conciled, the  red  shell  is  broken  in  the  presence  of  both  parties 
assembled  at  the  king's  court.  Each  party  appoints  a  representa- 
tive; the  one  for  the  injured  party  takes  up  a  stone,  the  other  re- 
presentative  holds  part  of  the  stone.    The   king   appoints   one   to 


Chapter  VIII.  127 

represent  him,  who  also  joins  in  holdinji,-  the  stone,  and  then  they 
break  the  shell.  A  bit  of  the  broken  shell  is  given  to  each  party 
as  a  memorial  of  the  peace,  and  the  rest  is  thrown  into  the  sea. 
We  call  this  "lamidshiia". 

13.  A  shell  of  a  kind  of  insect,  a  species  of  beetle,  called  "anko- 
nam"'  (i.e.  I  walk  alone)  is  a  symbol  of  being  friendless. 

14.  "Kunkuma",  a  seed  of  a  certain  plant,  which  has  acquired 
hardness  in  water  and  is  found  at  the  sea-shore  or  on  the  banks 
of  large  rivers.  It  is  as  big  as  an  egg,  or  sometimes  bigger.  When 
one  is  used  as  a  lace,  it  conveys  the  meaning  of  durability.  Ene- 
mies may  do  their  best  to  injure  you,  yet  they  can't  effect  your  ruin. 

15.  '^Santrofi"  is  a  kind  of  night  bird;  some  feathers  of  this  bird 
are  twisted  into  a  string  and  worn  round  the  knee  by  women  when 
their  husbands  are  engaged  in  war.  The  woman  who  wears  it, 
every  morning  pulls  out  a  part  of  the  string  into  which  the  feathers 
are  twisted,  and  prays  that  her  husband  may  be  lively  as  that 
bird  in  the  campaign,  and  never  be  caught  by  an  enemy. 

16.  A  gold  sword,  called  gyegye-tiri,  on  which  the  skull  of  a  leop- 
ard is  represented,  is  worn  by  the  kings  of  Asante  and  of  Dwaben 
as  a  sign  of  superiority. 

17.  "Fanfanto"  is  a  kind  of  fly;  when  made  on  a  sword,  it  means: 
"Go,  fight  and  die";  a  determination  to  conquer.  When  that  sword 
is  sent  to  a  general  by  a  king  (the  king  of  Asante),  the  general 
knows,  he  is  to  fight  and  die  rather,  than  return  home  defeated. 

18.  A  land-tortoise,  when  made  on  the  sword  of  a  king,  is  a 
symbol  that  nothing  can  be  done  unless  submitted  to  him ;  every- 
thing the  subjects  do  or  have,  must  be  brought  to  him. 

19.  A  snail,  when  made  on  a  sword,  means:  "Be  careful,  and 
do  not  easily  be  caught  as  a  snail;  or  to  an  enemy,  it  is  a  sj'mbol 
of  incompetence. 

20.  The  head  of  a  large  horned  snake  called  "onahka",  when  made 
on  a  sword,  is  a  symbol  of  power.  Although  the  snake  creeps  on 
the  ground,  yet  he  is  capable  of  catching  a  kingfisher. 

21.  A  sword  with  an  axe  is  a  symbol  of  ability  to  pass  through 
thick  and  thin  to  obtain  an  object. 

22.  The  head  of  a  river-fish  "adwen"  (silurus),  when  made  on  a 
sword,  means:  "Contemplate  when  sleeping",  or  "be  thoughtful." 

23.  Two  or  more  green  leaves  of  a  palm-branch  folded  together 
and  hung  on  a  piece  of  stick  are  means  forbidding;  this  emblem 
is  used  to  prohibit  people  from  trespassing  on  one's  property  (land). 


128  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

24.  "Tseregbamo",  division  or  breaking'  of  a  cola-imt  (or  lemon), 
is  used  by  friends  as  a  symbol  of  dissolving  friendship  with  a  de- 
ceased. At  the  funeral  castoni,  where  the  body  of  the  deceased  is 
lying,  all  his  or  her  friends  will  come  and  stand  before  the  body, 
and  cast  each  a  single  cola-nut  broken  into  two  halves  (or  a  lemon 
divided  into  two,  when  cola-nut  is  not  obtained).  When  the  pieces 
cast  fall  unequally  to  the  ground,  the  one  reclining  on  the  back  is 
for  the  friend,  and  the  other  for  the  deceased;  then  the  friendship 
is  acknowledged  as  dissolved  by  the  latter.  If  not  acknowledged, 
the  cast  nmst  be  repeated  until  it  is  acknowledged. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  attack  by  the  English  man-of-war  on  the  Fort  Creve-Coeur  and  Dutch 
Akra,  commonly  known  as  the  war  with  the  man-of-war  (Manowgta). — 
The  first  Danish  expedition  against  the  Angulas.      1782 — -1784. 

We  have  a  proverb,  "Never  a  musket  bursts  in  Europe  and 
wounds  one  in  Africa."  For  a  period  of  nearly  half  a  century, 
the  country  was  free  from  any  foreign  war.  For  the  old  enemy, 
the  Akwamus,  had  been  driven  from  the  countr}^  to  find  a  shelter 
beyond  the  Volta.  But  the  country  was  never  free  from  petty  inter- 
nal wars  and  commotions  which  were  brought  about  chiefly  by  the 
Danes,  Dutch,  and  English,  then  trading  on  the  Coast. 

In  the  year  1662  the  "Company  of  Royal  Adventurers"  was 
formed  in  England  for  the  purpose  of  trading  on  the  Coast.  Soon 
after  this,  a  war  broke  out  in  Europe  between  England  and  Hol- 
land, which  was  a  death-blow  to  that  Company  in  Africa.  For  the 
famous  Dutch  Admiral  De  Ruyter  took  all  its  forts  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Cape  Coast  Castle.  In  1672  a  new  company  was  incor- 
porated under  the  name  of  "the  Royal  African  Company  of  Eng- 
land". To  vie  successfall.7  with  the  Dutch  Company,  they  built 
forts  at  Dixcove,  Seconde,  Commenda,  Anamabo,  Winneba,  and  Akra. 
In  1750  their  establishments  were  transferred  to  a  new  association, 
"the  African  Company  of  Merchants.  During  their  administration 
hostilities  with  the  Dutch  continued.  In  1782  Captain  Shirley  of 
the  Leander,  although  repulsed  in  the  attack  upon  Elmina,  succeeded 
in  taking  the  Forts  of  Mowure,  Koromante,  Apa  and  Bereku. 

The  commandant  of  the  Fort  Creve-Cceur  was  said  to  be  one 
"Jandraka"  as  the  natives  called  him.     Teko  Tshuru  was  the  king 


Chapter  IX.  129 

of  Akra,  Okaidsha  having-  died;  Ayite  Okoso  was  the  chief  of  Gbese, 
Ayai  Peko,  an  intliieutial  man  at  that  time;  Oto  Brafo,  the  chief 
of  Otu  sti'eet.  In  consequence  of  the  war  in  Europe  most  of  the 
Europeans  had  been  removed,  with  the  exception  of  the  comman- 
dant and  the  native  soldiers  in  the  fort.  The  English  had  asked 
the  assistance  of  the  i)eople  of  Winneba,  Agona  and  some  detach- 
ments of  warriors  from  Anomabo,  Gomoa-Asen,  Apa  and  Obutu, 
who  were  Dutch  allies  and  refused  to  render  any  assistance  to  the 
English.  They  were  brought  down  to  Akra,  to  join  the  James 
Town  people,  who,  although  brethren  to  the  Dutch  Akras,  could  not 
refuse  the  orders  of  their  master,  but  simply  advised  the  Dutch 
Akras  to  leave  the  town  and  never  oppose  the  English. 

The  king  and  chiefs  could  not  bear  to  leave  their  town,  and  de- 
termined to  defend  both  it  and  the  fort.  Chief  Oto  swore  that  he 
would  never  allow  the  English  to  take  the  fort  in  the  absence  of 
their  masters.  The  people  of  Teshi,  Ningowa,  Tema  and  Poni,  then 
allies  of  the  Dutch  Government,  sent  their  warriors  and  obtained 
ammunition  from  the  commandant,  whereas  the  people  of  Chi-istians- 
borg,  Labade  and  Ningo  were  Danish  allies,  therefore  kept  them- 
selves neutral.  —  Captain  Shirley,  having  landed  marines  from  the 
Leander,  began  to  attack,  bombarding  the  fort  from  the  ships  and 
Fort  James,  while  the  allies  of  the  English  and  the  marines  arranged 
themselves  along  the  bush  at  Dshoshi,  which  separated  the  two 
towns,  and  were  lighting  the  allies  of  the  Dutch.  The  English 
forces  continued  the  fight  from  six  in  the  morning  till  dusk,  during 
24  days,  without  being  able  to  take  either  the  town  or  the  fort, 
till  all  at  once  the  allies  got  tired.  On  one  Thursday  the  Fantes 
sustained  a  heavy  loss  which  obliged  them  to  flee  back  to  their 
country.  The  ships,  at  last,  ran  short  of  ammunition  but  got  a 
supply  from  the  Danish  Government,  who  under  pretext  bought 
back  all  the  shots  which  had  been  used  for  the  English ;  they  even 
sent  out  people  from  Christiansborg  to  pick  them  up  from  the  field, 
and  bought  them  for  the  ships.  They  advised  the  English  to  hold 
out,  as  they  were  sure  the  natives  would  soon  give  in,  for  many 
of  them  had  removed  their  women,  children,  and  property  to  Chris- 
tiansborg; yet  neither  the  marines  nor  their  allies  could  hold  on 
any  longer.  At  last  the  Dutch  allies  having  also  run  short  of  am- 
munition, the  king  ordered  his  warriors  to  give  up  the  town.  They 
did  so,  and  removed  with  children  and  women  to  Kwabenyan,  and 
blockaded  the  paths  against  the  allies  of  the  English  and  Danes  to 

9 


130  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

prevent  their  getting  fire-wood  and  provisions.  The  hunters  of 
chief  Oto  snrveyed  the  land,  and  found  Kpokpoase,  to  w^here  he 
and  his  people  removed  and  established  a  large  town  for  them- 
selves, and  left  Ayai  Peko  and  the  king  with  their  people  at  Kwa- 
benyan.  Here  they  stayed  for  about  five  years  (although  the  natives 
say  nine  years)  and  kept  their  usual  customs,  as  they  were  in  the 
habit  of  doing  on  the  coast.  In  1785  the  forts  taken  by  the  Eng- 
lish were  given  back  to  the  Dutch.  The  English  having  failed  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  Dutch  fort,  although  severely  bombarded, 
the  people  of  the  town  also  refused  submission,  and  so  they  retired. 
But  before  doing  that,  the  James  Town  people  urgently  entreated 
tliem  to  intercede  to  make  peace  between  them  and  their  offended 
brethren  of  Dutch  Town ;  by  hook  or  by  crook  peace  was  made. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  for  our  readers  to  know  to  what 
cause  the  natives  attributed  this  war.  A  few  months  previous, 
Ama  Lomo,  the  predicting  fetish-priest  of  Nai,  had  been  drowned 
in  the  lagoon  Kole  by  order  of  Lamte  Dshang,  interpreter  of  Dutch 
Town.  The  chiefs  and  people  tried  to  find  out  the  cause  of  his 
death,  and  Dshang  being  suspected  of  the  murder  refused  to  attend 
the  court  of  the  elders.  They  therefore  went  to  his  house  to  know 
why  he  refused  to  appear.  But  they  were  met  at  his  gate  Math 
fighting,  and  Dshang  escaped  to  James  Town  for  protection  at  chief 
Anege's  house.  The  case  was  settled,  Dshang  having  committed 
suicide  with  several  of  his  people.  To  chastise  the  people,  Nai  in- 
vited the  English  to  fight  with  them  for  the  murder  of  his  priest. 

We  have  known  both  by  tradition  and  history  that  there  was 
never  peace  permanently  existing  between  the  Angulas  on  the 
eastern  and  the  Adas  on  the  western  side  of  the  Volta.  Tliis  nmtual 
animosity  may  be  traced  to  the  following  causes: —  1.  Disputes 
about  the  boundaries  in  fishing  the  Volta; —  2.  the  panyarring  or 
forcibly  demanding  long  standing  debts  by  seizing  men  and  pro- 
perty belonging  to  other  parties  in  payment  of  those  debts,  as  we 
found  in  the  case  of  one  Geraldo  with  the  Adas,  for  lodging  the 
Danes  who  traded  in  their  town,  although  the  Danish  government 
had  repeatedly  asked  tlie  consent  of  the  Angulas  to  have  a  fort 
built  at  Keta  for  slave  trade,  which  they  refused;  —  3.  the  immense 
quantity  of  salt  obtained  annually  by  the  Adas  from  the  lagoon, 
—  and  lastly,  the  Adas  being  in  alliance  with  the  Akras.  The  first 
war  between  these  tribes  was  in  1750,  in  which  Tshum  Ampoforo, 
the  king  of  Akem,  and  Sakiama  Tenteng,  the  king  of  Akuapem,  as- 


Chapter  IX.  131 

sisted  the  Adas.  In  conjunction  with  these  Tshi  warriors,  the  A- 
ngulas  were  defeated,  but  two  ol"  the  royal  blood  of  the  Tshis, 
viz.,  the  two  sovereigns  themselves,  were  taken  prisoners.  Peace 
was  made  in  1767,  and  the  Augulas  traded  to  Ada.  The  royal 
captives  were  ransomed  with  a  large  quantity  of  cam-wood. 

But  the  Angulas  made  use  of  those  peaceful  times  to  prepare  for 
an  invasion.  Having  made  an  alliance  with  several  tribes,  they 
attacked  the  Adas  by  surprise  in  1776.  The  contest  was  frightful; 
nearly  one  half  of  the  population  were  slain;  great  numbers  were 
taken  prisoners,  the  remnant  of  the  Adas  fled  for  shelter  to  Oko- 
huem,  near  Wekumagbe,  and  Ningo.  During  this  time  the  Danish 
merchants  carried  on  a  brisk  trade  with  some  confederate  tribes 
on  the  banks  of  the  river,  Agalaves,  Tefres,  Milamfes,  Batgs  &c.  The 
trade  with  the  Krepes  was  lively,  and  the  Agotims  supplied  them 
chiefly  with  slaves  and  ivory,  who  were  escorted  to  the  factories 
by  the  Milamfes.  The  mountaineers  traded  chiefly  with  the  Angulas 
in  cam-wood,  which  thej^  i)0wdered  and  mixed  with  palm-oil  for 
anointing  their  bodies  for  their  daily  religious  ceremonies.  In  re- 
turn the  mountaineers  brought  home  large  quantities  of  smoked 
and  dried  fish. 

The  Danish  merchants  kept  their  position  during  the  whole  time 
the  Adas  were  at  Ningo,  by  the  aid  of  a  dozen  cannon  placed  on 
a  rampart  on  the  bank  of  the  Volta,  just  in  front  of  their  factories. 
The  Angulas  kept  quiet  and  traded  with  them,  until  their  savage 
spirit  stirred  them  up  to  form  intrigues  against  the  Europeans. 
That  case  was,  however,  settled  by  giving  hostages  to  the  merchants, 
and  promising  henceforth  to  be  at  peace  at  all  times.  The  young 
men  of  Angula  did  not  approve  this  transaction  and  constantly 
taunted  the  elders  for  having  given  hostages.  Hence  the  trade  on 
the  Volta  became  insecure,  goods  in  canoes  to  the  factory  at  Keta 
were  seized,  and  the  canoemen  sold  as  slaves.  After  a  great  deal 
of  forbearance  the  Danish  Government  in  1782  took  measures  to 
crush  theii'  refractory  spirit. 

The  kings  and  chiefs  in  alliance  with  the  Danish  Government 
on  this  side  of  the  Volta,  and  to  whom  monthly  stipends  were 
paid,  were  king  Naku  Odang  of  Christiansborg,  Ako  Dsharam,  king 
of  Labade,  the  chiefs  of  Poni  and  Ningo,  and  Obuobi  Atie"mo,  the 
king  of  Akuapem.  Major  Kioge,  governor  of  the  Danish  settlements 
on  the  Gold  Coast,  summoned  those  kings  and  chiefs  to  Christians- 
borg  to  consult   about   an    expedition    against  the  Angulas.     They 

9* 


132  Histoiy  of  the  Gold  Cocast  and  Asante. 

advised  the  governor  to  ask  the  aid  of  the  king  of  Dutch  Town^ 
Akra,  whom  they  acknovs^ledge  their  head,  w^ithout  whose  assistance 
an  expedition  against  Angula  would  be  dilirtcult,  or  even  dangerous. 
Teko  Tshuru,  the  king  of  Dutch  Akra,  and  his  chiefs  Oto  Brafo, 
Ayite  Okoso,  Ayai  Peko  and  their  captains  and  people  had  at  that 
time  removed  to  Kwabenyan  and  Kpokpoase  in  consequence  of  the 
bombardment  of  the  Dutch  fort  by  the  English.  They  were  dis- 
affected against  the  governor  and  the  people  of  Christiansborg  for 
supplying  the  English  men-of-war  with  ammunition.  Governor 
Kioge  was  obliged  to  go  in  person  to  see  the  king  at  the  Ga  bush, 
to  propitiate  him  and  ask  his  aid.  A  grand  meeting  was  held 
to  settle  the  case;  yet  the  Akras  were  not  inclined  to  join  the 
expedition.  "Had  we  been  killed  by  the  English,  when  you  sup- 
plied them  with  ammunition,  could  we  assist  you?"  was  what 
they  told  the  governor.  Chief  Oto,  one  of  the  most  sensible  and 
powerful  among  the  rest  and  universally  acknowledged  almost  as 
a  king,  then  rose  and  addressed  the  meeting,  "Brethren,  for  my 
part,  1  would  advise  you  to  consent  to  the  request  of  the  gover- 
nor, to  join  our  brethren  of  Christiansborg  in  organizing  the  ex- 
pedition. For  I  am  confident  we  can  conquer  the  Angulas,  as  our 
fathers  once  conquered  them !"  His  royal  horn-blower  then  re- 
sponded, "Oto  e,  Oto  e,  kyere  w'akyiri  o !"  which  means:  Oto,  ex- 
cept in  thy  back !  —  meaning,  when  he  would  not  go  before,  any 
transaction  or  undertaking  would  be  impossible  for  the  Akras  to 
carry  out.  By  these  words  their  consent  was  obtained,  and  the  meet- 
ing broke  up.  The  governor  and  his  party  returned  to  Christians- 
borg. Chief  Ama  Oterene  of  Teshi  and  the  chiefs  of  Ningowa, 
Tema  &c.,  who  were  then  in  alliance  with  the  king  of  Dutch  Akra, 
came  with  Oto  and  got  their  ammunition  and  subsistence.  King 
Naku  Odang  with  the  other  chiefs,  king  Obuobi  Atiemo  and  his 
chiefs  of  Akuapem,  and  the  allies  of  the  Danish  government  were 
supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition.  The  time  to  move  the  ex- 
pedition was  fixed.  Tradition  says  that  the  governor  spent  the 
cargos  of  seven  barques  in  suppljnng  ammunition  to  the  expedition. 
His  Excellency  despatched  three  sailing  vessels  to  Fante,  and  they 
were  loaded  with  corn  for  the  use  of  the  army.  Owing  to  the  un- 
settled state  of  the  Akems,  in  consequence  of  the  war  between 
them  and  the  Asantes,  some  hostages  were  demanded  by  the  gov- 
ernor from  the  king  to  insure  his  loyalty  during  the  absence  of 
the  expedition.     One  of  the  hostages  also  joined  the  army. 


Chapter  IX.  133 

On  the  4*''  of  February  1784,  all  the  armed  men  with  their  kings 
and  chiefs  from  Akra,  Akuapem,  Krobg,  River-side  and  the  Adas 
arrived.  A  large  assembly  inet  betveeen  the  rampart  and  the  new 
building,  Kongensteen.  In  the  midst  of  a  large  circle  of  armed  men, 
five  European  gentlemen,  the  governor,  the  merchant,  Mr.  Biorn, 
Dr.  Isert  &c.,  were  seated  round  a  table,  on  which  a  bottle  of  liquor, 
seven  wine  glasses,  and  a  beautiful  sabre  were  placed.  King  Naku, 
with  a  few  of  his  retainers,  was  seated  under  a  state-umbrella  on 
one  side,  and  king  Obuobi  Atiemo,  also  with  his  retainers,  under 
a  state-umbrella  on  the  other  side  of  the  Europeans.  On  the  opposite 
side  some  puncheons  of  rum,  rolled  tobacco,  and  cases  of  pipes 
were  placed. 

The  governor  requested  the  assembly  of  armed  men  to  make  a 
choice  of  one  of  the  kings  or  chiefs  to  be  general  and  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  whole  body.  Chief  Oto  was  unanimously  chosen, 
to  whom  the  sabre  on  the  table  was  handed.  Holding  it  up  with 
both  hands,  he  took  the  oath  with  these  words  —  "I  possess  one 
stool,  one  drum,  one  horn,  and  one  umbrella;  where  these  things 
are,  there  I  am,  heaven  and  earth  help  me!"  His  horn-blower 
then  responded ;  Oto  e,  Oto  e,  kyere  w'akyiri  o !  The  whole  mass 
then  shouted:  hurrah!  hurrah!  Seven  guns  were  fired  in  salute 
of  the  general.  That  mode  of  taking  oaths  seems  more  expressive 
than  that  of  the  Tshis,  who  point  the  sword  to  the  nose  of  the 
superior.  Some  liquor  was  served  to  the  kings  and  the  chiefs, 
who  after  emptying  the  glass  threw  some  drops  from  their  mouths 
into  the  mouth  of  the  retainers,  —  a  mode  of  giving  liquor  to  in- 
feriors and  children  at  that  time.  The  whole  proceedings  of  the 
meeting  was  interpreted  in  the  different  dialects  of  those  present 
by  an  eloquent  linguist,  and  the  meeting  broke  up. 

The  next  day,  being  the  2S^^  of  February,  a  second  meeting  was 
held  by  order  of  the  general,  at  which  fetish-oaths  were  adminis- 
tered to  every  king  and  chief  of  the  army  to  the  effect  that  they 
acknowledged  Oto  the  commander-in-chief,  and  that  they  would 
obey  his  orders  and  fight  faithfully  during  the  campaign.  The  pres- 
ents, consisting  of  rum,  tobacco  and  pipes  &c.,  were  impartially 
distributed  to  every  king  and  armed  man,  who  were  ordered  to 
get  themselves  in  readiness  on  the  day  appointed  for  crossing 
the  Volta. 

During  the  whole  transaction,  Fort  Kongensteen  was  being  built, 
and  on  the  21**  of  March  it  was  finished.  The  Danish  flag  was  hoisted, 


134  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

and  the  governor  and  his  staff  took  lodgings  there.  The  Adas,  who 
were  against  building  a  fort  in  their  town,  were  convinced  at  last 
that  it  was  {jartl)^  for  their  own  interest  —  to  avoid  destruction  from 
the  attacks  of  the  enemy,  and  were  tinally  much  contented  with  it. 
Boats  and  canoes,  sufficient  to  cross  the  whole  army,  were  got 
in  readiness,  and  on  the  25**^  of  March  the  crossing  commenced  (as 
tradition  reports,  at  Tefre).  The  Europeans  superintending  that 
work  were  most  anxious  to  prevent  overloading  the  boats  and  drown- 
ing. The  Akras  ari*anged  themselves  with  their  flags  along  the 
bank  at  Aziza  (tlie  estuary  of  the  Volta).  The  enemy,  sheltered 
in  the  bushes  beyond,  watched  them.  The  whole  army  of  2000 
men  crossed  under  the  lire  of  the  enemy,  and  having  crossed,  they 
formed  their  divisions.  The  centre,  composed  of  the  Akras  under 
the  general;  the  right  wing,  com})Osed  of  the  Adas,  Krobos  and 
the  River-side  people,  and  the  left  wing  under  king  Obuobi  Atiemo 
with  the  Akuapems.  The  enemy,  after  vain  attempts  to  oppose  the 
crossing,  fled  to  their  camp,  and  a  march  was  ordered  against  them. 
On  the  30">  the  Angulas  were  found  to  have  encamped  behind  a 
marshy  lake,  overgrown  with  thick  grass,  called  yikiyiki.  The 
Adas  who  wished  to  fight  in  revenge,  as  well  as  the  Akras,  tied 
their  cartridge  belts  to  their  heads,  each  laying  his  gun  on  his 
head  and  crossing  the  lake,  while  the  body  was  up  to  their  shoul- 
ders in  water  and  mud.  When  across,  they  fought  like  tigers. 
The  left  wing  under  the  king  of  Akuapem  could  not  pass  the  lake 
at  the  same  moment,  else  the  enemy  could  have  been  enveloped 
in  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  The  enemy,  not  being  able  to  stand 
the  fire,  were  obliged  to  retreat,  in  consequence  of  which  Atoko 
was  set  on  fire,  oxen,  sheep  and  pigs  were  seized.  The  army  now 
formed  two  columns  and  marched  to  Fute  at  5  o'clock  P.  M.,  and 
set  fire  to  it  and  the  capital.  Atitonu,  Alakple  and  Anyako  were 
also  in  flames  on  the  same  evening.  A  large  camp  fire  was  kindled 
during  the  whole  night,  and  the  warriors  feasted  on  the  abundant 
spoil  obtained  that  day.  The  savage  mode  of  destroying  everything 
which  came  in  the  way  of  the  army,  viz.,  houses  and  fruit-trees, 
and  mutilating  the  slain,  displeased  the  governor  highl3^  He  was 
told,  unless  they  did  so,  the  Angulas  would  never  admit  to  have 
been  conquered  by  them.  Forty  men  were  wounded  that  day,  of 
whom  very  few  died.  An  Ada  seized  with  terror  shot  himself. 
On  the  first  of  April,  the  march  was  resumed  to  Keta,  as  the  enemy 
had  fled  and  could  not  be  traced.    Wei  and  Tegbe  were  burnt  down. 


Chapter   IX.  135 

At  Keta  all  but  a  single  man  had  (led,  though  thoy  professed  to  be 
neutral.  Chief  Late,  the  father  of  George  Lawson,  arrived  on  the 
4*^1  with  an  army  of  1100  men  composed  of  Afrawus,  Beis  and  the 
people  of  Little  Popo.  Late,  being-  an  Akra  and  hearing-  of  his 
peo[»le's  arrival,  came  to  assist  them.  The  whole  army  numbered 
now  over  oOOO  men.  On  the  10"^  they  marched  from  Keta  to  Kpo- 
til)ra,  wliere  there  was  plenty  of  salt,  which  they  seized  and  ex- 
changed for  provisions.  The  enemy  was  nowhere  to  be  traced, 
and  on  the  11*''  May  the  camp  was  removed  to  a  plain.  The  supply 
of  ammunition  had  been  wasted  in  baying  provisions,  and  more 
was  required,  which  obliged  the  governor  to  send  to  Keta,  when 
several  men  got  an  opportunit}^  of  running  down  to  the  coast  for 
articles  in  demand  in  camp.  Had  that  been  known,  the  enemy 
might  have  thought  of  an  attack.  A  good  supply  was  obtained 
for  the  army,  which  now  amounted  to  over  4000.  Although  Late 
was  one  of  the  most  sensible  and  powerful  among  the  chiefs,  yet 
the  governor  and  his  staff  were  suspicious  of  him.  A  hint  having 
been  obtained  of  the  enemy  encamping  at  Feta,  they  marched  again 
on  the  IB**',  and  got  in  sight  of  his  camp.  The  River-side  people 
opened  fire  on  them,  which  was  not  returned.  The  warriors  were 
arranged  according  to  their  divisions  within  sight  of  the  enemy's 
camp,  and  the  whole  night  was  passed  in  watching,  singing,  and 
dancing  till  the  break  of  day,  the  14***.  They  washed,  dressed,  and 
made  some  stripes  of  white  clay  on  their  bodies.  The  enemy  had 
taken  a  strong  position  along  the  Kleve  bush,  and  had  dug  holes 
in  the  ground,  inside  and  outside ;  some  of  the  holes  they  had 
slightly  covered  to  entrap  the  warriors,  while  others  were  left  open 
to  protect  their  persons  when  fighting.  A  detachment  was  ordered 
to  draw  them  out  on  the  plain.  Here  the  Akuapems,  who  could 
not  tight  in  the  first  engagement  on  account  of  the  swamp,  first 
began  tighting  very  gallantl}'.  The  centre  and  the  right  wing  also 
marched  to  meet  their  lines.  The  conflict  was  sharp  and  doubtful 
till  noon,  when  the  enemy  retired  into  the  bush.  The  left  wing, 
consisting  of  foresters,  rushed  in  after  them,  but  sustained  some 
losses.  A  party  of  the  enemy's  troop  rushed  to  attack  the  rear, 
but  the  reserve  army  of  500  men  drove  them  back.  The  remark- 
able gallantry  displayed  by  chief  Late  removed  the  suspicion  for- 
merly entertained  against  him  by  the  governor.  The  battle  lasted 
till  dusk,  when  the  enemy  retreated,  and  left  the  expedition  masters 
of  the  field  with  the  loss  of  24  slain  and  54  wounded.     The  enemv 


136  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaiite. 

had  54  slain,  160  wounded.  The  exj)edition  slept  on  the  battle-field, 
and  chief  Late  was  ordered  by  the  governor  to  be  his  body-guard 
during-  the  night.  Nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  enemj'^;  the  ex- 
pedition marched  to  Kpotibra.  Here  prince  Ofori  Thosu,  the  son 
of  king  Ashangmo  of  Akra,  who  had  emigrated  to  Popo  in  1680, 
arrived  with  an  army  to  mediate  on  behalf  of  the  Angulas.  He  sent 
a  captain  after  them  to  Klikg  where  the  enemy  had  fled,  and  on 
the  27*'^  they  sued  for  peace.  King  Obli  of  Popo  was  then  at  Afra- 
wu  collecting  an  army  to  join  the  expedition.  He  sent  repeatedly 
to  advise  the  governor,  never  to  grant  peace  to  the  Angulas  till  he 
had  arrived.  The  governor  was  obliged  to  go  there  in  person,  and 
what  he  was  told  by  the  old  king  of  80  j'ears  of  age  was,  ''Wait 
in  camp  four  weeks,  and  if  I  cannot  join  you  then  accept  the  ne- 
gotiation for  peace  from  the  Angulas."  A  sanction  to  establish  a 
factory  at  Afrawu  was  obtained.  (King  Obli  died  in  1786.)  The 
governor  now  returned  to  camp.  As  the  Angulas  were  asking  for 
peace,  the  camp  was  again  pitched  at  Keta,  and  on  the  4*'sJune, 
four  ambassadors  arrived  with  nine  hostages.  A  grand  meeting 
was  held  on  the  18*'^  to  receive  the  hostages  and  sign  the  following 
treaty  of  peace. 

1.  The  Angulas  must  allow  a  Fort  to  be  built  at  Keta. 

2.  They  must  allow  free  passage  to  travellers  by  land  as  well 
as  by  the  river. 

3.  They  must  allow  Factories  to  be  established  in  the  country, 
especially  in  the  capital. 

4.  They  must  not  carry  on  trade  in  slaves,  ivory,  and  other 
articles  of  commerce  (provision  and  poultry  excepted)  with  any 
other  European  nation,  but  the  Danes. 

5.  They  were  allowed  to  rebuild  their  towns,  and  to  keep  per- 
petual peace  with  the  Keta  people  (Agbosomes). 

6.  The^^  must  give  ten  hostages,  sons  of  the  chiefs,  and  bear  in 
mind  that  on  the  infringement  of  the  treaty  the  hostages  were  to 
be  sold  from  the  country. 

The  four  ambassadors,  creeping  on  their  knees  and  hands,  saluted 
the  leading  men  of  the  meeting,  after  which  the  nine  hostages  were 
handed  over  to  the  governor.  The  signing  and  witnessing  of  the 
treatj'-  followed,  and  then  the  meeting  broke  up.  On  the  next  day, 
the  19"S  the  general  with  the  leading  men  of  the  army  gave  fetish 
to  the  ambassadors   to   the  effect  that  they  would,   in  the  name  of 


Chapter  IX.  137 

the  whole  country,  keep  the  peace,  be  faithful,  and  never  in  future 
dare  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Akras. 

The  plan  of  the  fort  Prindsensteen  was  made,  the  ground  prepared 
on  the  20*'',  and  on  the  22"**  another  grand  meeting  was  held,  at 
which  the  foundation-stone  was  laid  by  Adade,  brother  of  king 
Obli.  Prince  Ofori  Thosu  put  the  first  mortar  on  the  stone  with 
these  words:  ^'Whoever  dares  to  touch  a  single  stone  of  the  build- 
ing, touches  my  person."  And  then  the  building  commenced.  Tra- 
dition says  that  the  Akras  planted  some  trees  in  the  principal 
towns  of  Angula  as  a  memorial  of  the  victory.  The  whole  army 
was  put  in  motion  homeward  on  the  26'*^,  and  reached  Ada  the 
following  day.  As  the  Angulas  were  not  well  pleased  with  the 
building  of  the  fort,  and  likely  to  give  some  trouble.  Prince  Ofori 
Thosu  and  chief  Late  with  their  [>eople  were  commissioned  to  pro- 
tect the  building  till  it  was  finished.  The  government  had  to  order 
the  stones  for  the  building  from  Christiansborg. 

To  prevent  further  bloodshed,  the  governor  made  presents  to  the 
whole  army,  and  would  have  given  monthly  stipends  to  the  king 
of  Dutch  Akra,  and  his  allies;  but  Oto  declared  that  they  would 
never  change  their  flag,  but  await  the  return  of  their  former  masters, 
the  Dutch.  The  chiefs  of  Teshi,  Ningowa  and  Tema  were,  however, 
submitted  to  the  Danish  government,  got  monthly  stipends  and 
hoisted  their  flag  till  the  English  government  bought  Fort  Christians- 
borg, and  all  the  Danish  allies  came  under  the  protection  of  the 
English  government.  The  Dutch  Town  people  repaired  their  town 
and  removed  from  Kwabenyan  and  Kpokpoase. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  state  of  A  saute  and  Altera  at  this  pex'iod. —  The  battle  at  Mpemeho- 
asem,  dissensions  and  commotions  in  the  country. —  The  first  Asante 
invasion  of  Fante,  known  as  Fantekah. —  The  invasion  by  the  Ubutus 
and  Fantes  of  Akra  on  Saturday,  known  as  Hota.     1749 — 1809. 

After  the  death  of  Opoku  Ware,  his  nephew  Kwisi  Bodum  suc- 
ceeded him  on  the  stool,  who  restored  to  the  great  chiefs  the  con- 
stitutional powers  of  which  they  had  been  deprived  by  his  pre- 
decessor. He  was  the  most  humane  of  all  the  monarchs,  forbade 
the  human   sacrifices,    and    brought   peace  among  the  chiefs.     Yet 


138  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

they  did  not  ai»[»rove  of  his  being  so  less  blood-thirsty,  so  that 
many  tried  to  irritate  his  feelings  by  committing  acts  against  the 
law  of  the  constitution;  however,  he  kept  to  his  principles.  His 
nephew  and  successor  KwadvVo  seduced  four  of  his  wives  who  con- 
ceived by  him.  To  spare  him  for  the  stool,  Duedu,  who  had  the 
charge  of  the  harem,  professed  to  be  the  offender,  and  was  there- 
fore beheaded.  Prince  Kwadwo,  after  this,  persisted  in  his  wicked 
course,  and  was  clearly  convicted.  The  king,  however,  to  avoid 
further  bloodshed,  spared  his  nephew.  But  one  night  he  ordered 
all  the  most  valuable  treasures  of  the  kingdom,  the  best  medicines 
for  preserving  life  as  well  as  those  for  carrying  on  war  success- 
full}^,  to  be  thrown  into  a  deep  swamp  of  the  river  Nsuben,  as  a 
punishment  for  his  wicked  act.  Adabo,  one  of  his  sons,  also  trans- 
gressed with  some  of  his  wives;  as  a  [lunishment  he  ordered  him 
to  be  castrated.  He  was  the  first  king  who  appointed  inspectors 
of  nuisances  and  clearing  of  the  roads  and  paths  in  his  kingdom. 
The  insignia  of  that  ofitice  are  a  gold  sword,  and  a  gold  and  silver 
whip.  The  fine  for  committing  nuisance  or  not  clearing  the  paths 
was  domafa  =  3/ll.  From  those  who  observed  the  law,  they  used 
to  get  a  present  of  two  fowls  and  2/3  cash.  Such  revenue  was  called 
Nsumen  and  amounted  annually  to  3000  peredwans  or  sometimes 
less.  It  was  divided  into  three  parts,  Ys  ^^^^  king's  share,  Vs  ^o 
Koronti  and  the  surveyors.  His  eyes  being  dim  by  age,  the  nobles 
of  Asante  determined  to  put  an  end  to  his  mild  reign,  built  a  king's 
palace  lor  him  at  Kyeremade,  and  removed  him  there,  where  he 
rehiained  till  he  died  about  the  year  1770. 

Every  fortieth  day,  known  as  Adae  Kwasi,  the  king  of  Asante 
with  his  nobles  visits  Kyeremade  and  offers  sacrifices  to  the  spirit 
of  Kwisi  Bgdum.  After  this  the  king  repairs  to  Mogyawe  to  keep 
the  Adae.  Adae-kese  is  the  yearly  Adae,  at  which  time  the  king- 
receives  his  nobles  and  captains  at  Dwabirim  and  spends  1000 
peredwans  in  presents  to  his  chiefs,  captains  and  officials.  The  fol- 
lowing day  he  spends  at  Bantama  to  sacrifice  to  the  spirits  of  his 
ancestors. 

Prince  Kwadwo  was  then  made  king  of  Asante.  His  lirst  act 
was  to  pick  up  those  valuables  from  that  deep  swamp,  at  which 
attempt  1000  men  lost  their  lives,  whence  that  place  is  called  Mene- 
apem,  i.e.  swallowed  a  thousand  men. 

Worosa,  the  king  of  Banna,  used  to  seize  and  kill  Asante  traders 
on   his   territory.     Osei  Kwadwo,   therefore,  declared    war   against 


Chaptea-  X.  139 

liirn.  He  tnjirclied  against  Worosa  witli  such  forces  as  were  avail- 
al)le,  hoping-  to  nip  the  rebellion  in  the  bud.  He  was  twice  de- 
feated, and  had  to  retreat  into  the  forests  which  surrounded  Kutn- 
ase.  There,  rallying  his  troops  and  their  reserve,  ho  turned  on 
his  enemies  and  inflicted  on  them  a  signal  defeat.  The  Bannas  had 
for  the  first  time  fought  with  fire-arms,  and  were  assisted  in  this 
campaign  by  the  Moslem  cavalry  of  Kong.  The  cause  of  his  defeat 
was  attributed  to  an  Asante  being  captured,  who  was  carried  to 
the  house-top  of  Worosa,  who  asked  the  prisoner  to  show  him  the 
camp  of  the  Asantes.  The  prisoner,  seeing  a  great  number  of 
"kurokuronasuo"  trees  with  beautiful  red  blossoms,  said  to  the  king, 
"There  is  the  camp  of  the  Asantes."  Startled  to  see  so  many  state- 
umbrellas,  as  he  thought,  of  an  enemy  he  knew  to  have  defeated, 
he  lost  courage  and  blew  up  himself  and  his  people  with  powder. 
The  blasting  was  heard  by  the  Asantes,  who  attacked  and  routed 
the  enemy.  Worosa,  found  nearly  dead,  was  beheaded  by  a  stroke 
from  the  sword  of  the  king.  The  shape  of  his  head  was  made 
with  gold,  and  placed  on  a  sword  which  was  called  "Worosa-ti." 

]\lultitudes  of  prisoners  were  captured.  The  adults  were  sacri- 
ficed, or  sold  as  slaves  to  the  Dutch  and  English  in  the  slave- 
market  at  Manso  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  war,  and  all  the 
male  children  were  educated  at  the  king's  expense  and  became 
soldiers  of  a  new  body-guard  which  he  instituted  under  the  name 
of  Nkonsong  and  Hyiewu,  with  Oko  ue  Qko  for  captains. 

Animiri  Panyin,  the  king  of  Wasa,  boasted  that,  if  he  could  get 
hold  on  Usei  Kwadwo,  he  would  drive  an  epa  (a  curved  iron  clos- 
ing round  the  wrist  of  a  prisoner  and  fixed  on  a  block)  into  his 
head.  Wasa  was  therefore  invaded  and  ravaged;  Animiri  was  cap- 
tured and  his  head  was  treated  as  he  had  offered  to  treat  the  king's, 
and  then  hung  on  a  drum  with  the  name  Agyankoto  Agyankama. 
So  the  terror  of  his  arms  was  felt  beyond  Cape  Palmas.  He  pitied 
prince  Adabo  for  the  punishment  he  got  from  his  father  and  there- 
fore made  him  the  chief  surveyor  of  the  nuisance  and  paths  clearers 
or  scavengers.  A  big  jar  of  palm-wine  was  appointed  as  his  daily 
allowance,  hence  the  name  "adaboa"  was  given  to  any  jar. 

After  this,  Akram,  king  of  the  Kotokus,  then  established  near 
Agogo  and  Okwawu,  was,  one  midday,  defeated  and  slain;  hence 
the  king  received  the  surname  ''Okoawia",  who  fights  on  midday. 

Nakawa  succeeded  Okuru  Karikari,  who  had  been  recently  sub- 
dued by  Opoku  Ware,  on  the  stool  of  Yane.     He  organized  a  very 


140  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

large  army  by  making  several  alliances  with  the  neighbouring 
tribes,  and  revolted  against  Osei  Kwadwo.  General  Koranteng 
Pete  III  was  ordered  to  give  him  battle.  A  hot  contest  ensued. 
The  fortune  of  the  day  was  almost  in  favour  of  the  king  of  Yane, 
when  the  general  by  a  bold  attack  surrounded  the  king's  body- 
guard and  captured  him  alive.  This  obliged  his  numerous  forces 
to  lay  down  their  arms.  By  Osei  Kwadwo's  instructions  to  the 
general,  Nakawa's  life  was  spared,  but  he  was  obliged  to  write  a 
contract  in  Arabic,  which  both  himself  and  all  his  generals  signed, 
to  the  effect  that  he  and  his  successors  should  remain  vassals  to 
the  king  of  Asante,  and  pay  a  tribute  of  1000  slaves  annually  to 
the  king.  General  Koranteng  Pete  and  his  successors  had  not 
only  the  charge  of  this  province,  but  also  300  slaves  out  of  the 
tribute  every  year.  The  Asantes  in  levying  this  tribute  counted 
two  or  three  boys  and  girls  to  an  adult,  hence  the  appellation 
''Okumka-deka",  i.e.  he  paid  the  debt  and  is  yet  indebted,  is  ap- 
plied to  the  king  of  Yane. 

During  Osei  Kwadwo's  reign  the  civil  war  between  Mampong 
and  Dwabeng  took  place.  Atakora  Maniampong  of  Mampong  had 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  tributary  states  of  Nta  and  Brong,  and  A- 
kuamoa  Panyin  had  that  of  Namonsi,  Karakye  and  Bagyam.  The 
latter  claimed  the  jurisdiction  of  the  state  belonging  to  the  former, 
and  thus  war  broke  out.  The  chiefs  met  near  Namonsi  one  Wed- 
nesday morning.  After  a  sharp  contest  Akuamoa  Panyin  was  beaten 
and  escaped  on  horseback.  His  prempe,  nkrawiri  (two  kinds  of 
state-drum),  money-bag,  pistol  and  kettle-drum  were  captured  by 
Atakora.  The  king  despatched  armed  men  who  brought  the  hostile 
chiefs  to  Kumase,  where  the  case  was  investigated.  Akuamoa  was 
found  guilty,  and  the  Namonsi  people  were  restored  to  Atakora. 
His  people  then  began  to  extol  him :  "Wo  na  wode  prempe  si  nsoa; 
wo  na  wode  nkrawiri  ye  agyensu ;  wode  sana  bo  saua  so;  woma 
Bosompra  di  afasew  Wukuda."  Meaning:  It  was  you  who  made 
the  prempe  to  become  a  fishing-net;  it  was  you  who  converted 
nkrawiri  to  a  gutter;  you  tied  one  money-bag  upon  another;  you 
made  Bosompra  eat  yam  on  Wednesday.  —  Dadease  was  then 
under  Akuamoa,  but  the  })eople  did  not  assist  their  chief  against 
Mampong.  They  were  ordered  to  come  over  to  explain  why  they 
had  not  taken  part  in  the  war.  Alleging  that  they  were  indebted 
to  the  amount  of  30  peredwans,  the  amount  was  paid  for  them  by 
chief  Asare  Pomsem  and  princess  Adwowa  Piraman  of  Kokofu,  to 


Chapter  X.  141 

whom  they  became  subject.  Others  believe  that  thej  were  sold 
by  Akuamoa  for  100  pe  red  wans. 

Shortly  after  this,  Akuamoa  was  deposed  from  the  stool  ot  Dwa- 
beii,  and  resided  at  Marabang-  where  he  had  the  pleasure  of  hear- 
ing- the  song-  of  certain  birds,  from  which  the  Ature  dance  was 
invented.  The  new  king,  Fetua,  proving-  unable  to  rule,  Akuamoa 
was  reinstated. 

Atakora  Maniampong  died  and  was  succeeded  by  Owusu  Sekyere. 
During-  the  last  year  of  (Jsei  Kwadwo's  life,  when  he  was  worn 
out  with  old  age  and  hardship,  Asen,  Akuapeni,  and  Akem  took 
advantage  of  his  condition  to  rebel.     He  died  about  1781. 

His  nephew  Kwame  Panyin  (Osei  Kwamena),  a  youth  of  about 
12  years,  succeeded. 

His  first  act  was  to  send  an  arm}^  under  Opoku  Fredefrede  against 
the  Asens  who  had  by  their  rebellion  embittered  the  last  hour  of 
his  uncle.  The  rebels  were  defeated,  and  the  heads  of  Akombra 
of  Kokom  and  Ofosu,  both  kings  of  Asen,  were  added  to  the  tro- 
phies which  decorate  the  palace  of  the  king  of  Kumase. 

Owusu  Sekyere,  who  had  the  charge  of  the  provinces  of  Nta  and 
Brong,  went  to  Krupi  to  attend  a  funeral  custom  of  the  late  chief 
of  the  place.  Staying  there  for  a  year,  he  became  very  proud  and 
cruel  by  practising  all  sorts  of  enchantment  against  Asante.  His 
own  captains,  Afidwase  Babu,  Gyamase  Bediako,  and  Adwira  Bo- 
adu  Atoto  sent  privately  to  inform  the  king  of  Owusu's  doings 
there.  Ogyobeii  was  commissioned  by  the  king  with  30  armed 
men,  three  peredwans,  ten  loads  of  cola  and  ten  ankers  of  rum  to 
the  chief  of  Yegye,  to  get  Owusu  drowned  when  crossing  the  Volta. 
The  plot  being-  known  to  him,  he  crossed  the  river  in  a  common 
fowl-basket  in  which  he  had  hid  himself.  To  the  surprise  of  his 
enemies,  who  were  waiting  to  see  him  drowned,  he  landed  safely. 
Jumping  from  the  basket,  he  called  out,  Diako!  (the  name  of  the 
late  king  of  the  Guah  tribes  driven  by  Opoku  Ware  to  Krepe). 
Ogyoben  delivered  to  him  four  ankers  of  rum  and  a  message  from 
the  king  requesting  his  presence  at  Kumase,  Owusu  sent  the  com- 
missioner back  to  the  king  with  12  slaves  and  the  assurance  that 
he  was  coming.  At  Nyenyennura  general  Yemoa  Ponko  at  the 
head  of  a  large  army  gave  him  battle ;  for  three  days  he  could 
not  be  overcome,  till  one  of  his  servants,  Kotokoro  by  name,  placed 
him  on  his  back,  thus  enabling-  him  to  climb  by  a  creeping-  plant 
up  to  the  to[»  of  the  rock  Atwieboo,   where  he  committed  suicide. 


142  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

Hence  the  Mampong  oath  of  Thursday.  Tlie  king  appointed  his 
brother  Osafo  Katanka  to  succeed  him.  But  he  was  deprived  of 
the  provinces  of  Nta  and  Broug.  Krupi  was  also  taken  from  his 
jurisdiction  and  the  inhabitants  removed  to  Pami,  which  became 
the  present  far-famed  market-town  of  Salaga.  Osafo  in  memory 
of  this  humiliation  ordered  different  horns  to  be  blown,  showing 
how  he  had  been  deprived  of  every  thing  he  possessed,  and  would 
therefore  be  mute. 

Akuamoa  Panyin  having  died,  the  king  went  to  Dwaben  to  attend 
the  funeral,  and  there  had  connection  with  Agyei  Badu,  sister  of 
YeboaKore,  whom  he  ouglit  never  to  have  married,  as  it  was  against 
the  constitutional  law  of  Asante.  Besides  he  neglected  his  duties 
in  the  capital,  as  he  had  taken  permanent  residence  in  Dwaben. 
Koranteh  Pete  and  Apea  Dankwa,  two  powerful  generals  in  Kum- 
ase,  combined  with  the  nobles  and  chiefs,  led  an  army  to  Dwaben 
and  deposed  the  king.  The  Dwabens  and  his  body-guard  would 
have  resorted  to  arms,  but  the  king,  to  avoid  bloodshed,  prevented 
them.  During  his  reign,  he  constituted  another  body-guard  knov^^n 
as  Apagya  for  his  son  Owusu  Gyamedua,  and  Atipiri  for  the  cap- 
tain of  Ankobea.  He  also  built  the  town  Beremang.  Agyin,  the 
chief  of  Tafo,  was  presented  with  one  peredwan  of  gold  and  apiece 
of  nsa  (a  basket-cover)  for  permitting  the  king  to  build  the  town. 
Osei  Kwamena  also  forbade  the  selling  of  real  Asantes  from  the 
country.     Residing  in  Dwabejig,  he  poisoned  himself  in  about  1799. 

His  brother  Opoku  Fofie  (Opoku  II,  Kwabom)  succeeded  him, 
but  reigned  only  two  months  and  died  suddenly,  being,  it  is  said, 
visited  by  the  apparition  of  his  late  brother,  when  in  bed  with  one 
ol'  his  wives  by  name  Firempoma  Tanno. 

During  his  life-time  the  Mohammedans  of  Kong  instigated  the 
population  of  Gyaman  to  rebel  against  Asante,  because  the  ex-king 
encouraged  the  Mohammedan  religion.  It  was  professed  at  Bontuku 
that  the  object  was  to  restore  to  his  stool  the  deposed  king  Osei 
Kwame.  But  Opoku  being  suddenly  removed  by  death,  the  case 
dropped  and  peace  was  restored. 

At  his  death,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  much  younger 
than  himself,  and  with  the  advent  of  Osei  Tutu  Kwamena,  properly 
known  as  Diasibe  and  Bonsu,  to  the  stool,  we  enter  on  a  period 
in  which  political  relations  may  be  said  to  have  subsisted  between 
Great  Britain  and  Asante. 


Chapter  X.  143 

There  was  peace  in  the  coiuitry  durinti'  a  period  of  18  3'ears 
after  the  return  of  the  expedition  against  the  Angulas;  lawlessness, 
however,  prevailed  in  every  district.  Asiedu,  a  ne[ihew  of  king 
Safrotwe  of  Akropong,  came  to  Akra,  and  had  a  quarrel  with  an 
Akra  woman,  the  real  cause  of  which  is  now  uncertain.  He  was 
seen  beating  the  woman,  when  one  Bontoako  Teko,  who  was  close 
by,  liad  to  jump  through  his  window  to  her  assistance.  Asiedu 
went  back  to  Akuapem,  but  died  shortly  after  that.  Safrotwe  there- 
upon sent  messengers  to  Akra,  demanding  satisfaction,  which  was 
refused,  alleging  that  Bontoako  was  not  the  cause  of  his  nephew's 
death.  The  intercourse  between  Akra  and  Akuapem  was  on  that 
account  broken,  and  the  paths  became  unsafe. 

To  obtain  redress  for  the  injury,  a  small  party  of  armed  men 
was  sent  under  one  Okule,  a  Fanteman  resident  at  Aburi,  with  the 
instruction  of  panyaring  Akra  women  on  their  way  to  Mayera. 
It  being  one  Tuesday,  no  one  passed  on  the  way,  yet  there  were 
some  farmers  with  their  families  busily  gathering  ground-nuts. 
They  were  attacked,  the  women  and  children  effected  their  escape, 
and  left  some  of  the  men  slain  on  the  spot.  Their  heads  were  cut 
off  and  carried  in  triumph  to  Aburi.  The  king  was  greatly  annoyed 
at  this  disregard  to  his  instructions.  "You  have  brought  me  into 
trouble,"  he  said  to  the  party.  "I  meant  to  capture  them  alive  to 
adjust  the  difference  between  us !  How  am  1  now  to  return  these 
heads  to  the  Akras?"  Upon  which  the  Akuapems  there  assembled 
responded,  "Come  what  may,  we  can  stand  the  consequences.'" 
Knowing  what  would  naturally  be  the  consequences  of  this  atro- 
city, the  Akuapems,  upon  breaking  uj)  the  meeting,  immediately 
attacked  Oyeadufa  and  Pantang,  villages  belonging  to  Labade  and 
Teshi.  Kruding,  a  captain  of  the  priestly  band  of  Teshi,  and  one 
Okru,  residing  at  Oyeadufji,  fell  in  the  attack.  When  the  head  of 
the  former  was  to  be  cut  off,  Tete  Obokum  of  Berekuso,  being 
his  friend,  interceded,  dragged  him  behind  some  plantain-trees  and 
hid  him  under  the  leaves.  He  became  conscious  during  the  night 
and  went  back  to  Teshi;  Okru  also  is  reported  to  have  survived. 

King  Amugi  of  Akra  with  his  chiefs,  Tete  Ankama  of  Gbese, 
Amo  Koba  of  Otu-street,  Kwaw  of  James  Town,  Naku  Odang  of 
Osu,  Sowa  Kpobi  of  Labade,  Kole  and  Okang  of  Teshi,  were  en- 
raged. They  concentrated  their  forces  and  encamped  at  Nyantrabi 
to  give  battle  to  the  Akuapems.  Safrotwe  thereupon  encamped 
with  his  forces  on  the  Opoku  hill  near  Berekuso.     The  Akra  camp 


144  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

was  removed  to  Ashongmaug-  awaiting  their  descent,  which  did  not 
ensue.  King  Amugi  ordered  his  forces  to  attack  the  Akuapems  on 
the  hill ;  but  through  divers  opinions,  which  was  nothing  else  but 
want  of  courage,  they  at  last  proposed  to  decamp  for  the  celebra- 
tion of  their  yearly  feast.  No  sooner  was  the  camp  broken  up, 
than  the  Akuapems  descended  and  pitched  their  camp  on  the  spot. 

Afo,  an  influential  man  of  Otu-street  in  Dutch  Akra,  advised  the 
Akras  not  to  wait  for  the  celebration  of  the  feast  of  the  other  towns, 
which  generally  comes  on  ten  days  after  theirs,  but  to  encamp 
first  at  Nyantrabi,  till  the  chiefs  of  Osu,  Labade  and  Teshi  should 
join  tliem  with  their  forces.  They  accordingly  did  so,  however, 
not  with  all  their  men.  The  Akuapems,  having  been  informed  of 
the  weak  state  of  the  Akra  camp,  immediately  attacked  it  and 
killed  most  of  their  principal  men.  The  king,  Tete  Ankama  and 
chiefs  Kwaw,  Amo,  and  several  others  were  fain  to  hide  in  the 
bushes,  and  made  their  way  home  during  the  night.  Some  even 
strolled  in  the  bush  for  three  days  before  they  found  their  way 
home.  Several  influential  chiefs  were  captured,  brought  to  Akro- 
pong  and  there  barbarously  killed.  Afo  was  accused  of  having 
acted  as  a  spy,  and  even  killed  many  of  those  who  were  wounded, 
among  whom  was  Ayite  Okai.     It  was  in  August  1802. 

A  large  Court  was  held  in  Dutch  Town  by  all  the  chiefs  and 
warriors  of  Akra,  to  which  Afo  was  summoned  to  clear  himself  of 
the  charge.  The  commandant  of  James  Town  was  called  upon  to 
intercede,  who  was  willing  to  pay  any  amount  whatever  to  pacify 
the  infuriated  people,  but  nothing  was  acceptable.  At  last  they 
were  cooled  down,  fines  and  presents  were  given  and  shared,  every 
one  was  to  retire  home,  when  unfortunately  one  Oni  Tete  of  Otu- 
street  excited  the  populace  to  a  contest,  in  which  many  were  slain, 
and  Afo  among  the  number. 

During  those  days  of  commotions  and  dissensions,  the  people  of 
Christiansborg,  Labade,  Ningo,  and  the  Akuapems  were  allies  of 
the  Danish  government,  while  those  of  Dutch  Town,  James  Town, 
Teshi,  Tema  and  Prampram  were  Dutch  and  English  allies. 

The  allies  of  the  Danish  government  on  the  coast  had,  in  times 
of  scarcity,  access  to  the  mountains.  To  distinguish  themselves 
from  those  of  other  towns,  they  had  to  wear  some  peculiar  neck, 
lace  with  one  or  two  cowries  in  it.  To  get  them  into  trouble,  the 
Akuapems  smuggled  articles  of  their  own  property  into  the  loads 
of  the  Akras,  as  Joseph  did  to  his  brothers  in  Egypt.     But  though 


Chapter  X.  145 

deceitfully  dealt  with  by  the  Akuapems,  they  never  thought  of  stand- 
ing united  aoainst  their  common  foe. 

Some  Danish  colonists,  as  Messieurs  Schonning,  Truelsen,  Meyer^ 
Gronberg  and  others,  had  established  villages  of  their  own  atSesemi, 
Dvvabeh,  Bebiase,  and  Kpohkpo.  A  fine  fort  was  built  by  Schonning 
in  his  village  and  armed  with  cannon. 

Kwaw  Safrotwe  used  to  frequent  that  place,  being  on  friendly 
terms  with  Mr.  Schonning.  Once  upon  a  visit,  after  the  usual  enter- 
tainment, the  king  ordered  his  people  to  play  a  dance  for  their  amuse- 
ment. Being  unsober,  he  ordered  this  song  to  be  played:  "Bibifo 
som  me, naBrofosom  me," The  blacks  as  well  as  the  wliite  men  serve 
me.  Mr.  Schonning  was  greatly  displeased,  ordered  at  once  his  fort 
to  be  pulled  down,  and  retired  to  the  coast.  The  king  did  all  in 
his  power  to  appease  him,  but  in  vain. 

The  Akras  not  being  very  active  in  taking  revenge  after  the 
attack  at  Nyantrabi,  encouraged  their  enemy  to  carry  on  his  inroads 
even  to  the  coast.  An  attack  upon  Teshi  was  planned,  but  knowing 
how  powerful  the  place  was,  and  hearing  at  the  same  time  that  a 
good  number  of  the  Pramprams  had  been  engaged  at  James  Town, 
they  fell  npon  their  town,  and  carried  otT  some  women  and  children. 
The  Ningoes  heard  the  fire,  chased  them  as  far  as  Owido  near  the 
Shai  mountain,  and  killed  two  of  them;  some  of  the  prisoners  effected 
their  escape,  but  the  rest  they  sold  in  Fante.  The  Akuapems,  on 
their  w^ay  back,  surprised  Ashikuma,  a  village  belonging  to  Teshi, 
killed  three  men  and  made  two  prisoners.  Doku,  the  son  of  chief 
Okang  of  Teshi,  was  one  of  the  prisoners,  whom  they  proposed  to 
sell,  when  he  exclaimed,  ^'You  will  never  get  a  real  native  of  Teshi 
besides  me,  you  had  better  kill  me!"  They  accordingly  did  so.  Some 
common  fellows  of  Christiansl)org  and  Labade,  having  kidnapped 
a  boy  from  Teshi,  were  severely  beaten  and  driven  from  their 
villages.  Tiie  Labades  thus  banished,  called  down  some  of  the  Akua- 
pems, and  went  before  them,  decoying  the  Teshis  from  their  villages 
by  calling  out  their  names,  and  catching  them. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  country,  that  pillage,  manstealing,  and 
murder  prevailed  in  every  district.  If  the  European  governments 
of  the  Danes,  Dutch,  and  English  then  established  on  the  coast  had 
not  become  demoralized  and  weakened  through  the  slave  trade, 
such  general  disorder  could  easily  have  been  checked.  The  poor 
people  they  pretended  to  protect,  were  so  far  protected,  alas  for 
their  own  benefit!  — 

10 


146  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

The  two  principalities  into  which  Asen  was  then  divided  were 
Apemanem  and  Tanngsu,  which  were  governed,  the  former  by  Amo 
Adae,  whose  chief  captain  was  Tokudum,  and  the  latter  by  Tibo 
and  Kwaku  Apotoi,  co-partners  in  authority.  One  of  Apotoi's  fol- 
lowers opened  the  grave  of  one  of  Amo's  captains  and  robbed  it  of 
some  treasure.  Amo,  unable  to  obtain  redress  from  Tibo  and  Apotoi, 
appealed  to  Osei  Kwame  Panyin.  The  king  thereupon  gave  judge- 
ment in  favour  of  Amo  andimprisoned  Apotoi.  He  escaped,  and  Amo, 
unable  to  obtain  redress,  marclied  into  Tibo  and  Apotoi's  province. 
The  king  therefore  commissioned  the  chiefs  Kofi  Amparaku  of  Adanse, 
Bosompim  Nto  of  Omanso,  Agogo  Kyei,  Amantara  Ofosuhene,  and 
Osemdu  Akora.  Boakye  Atansa  with  captain  Mpo  and  Apea  Anyo 
from  Kumase  went  with  the  commissioners  to  Asen  and  summoned 
the  hostile  chiefs  to  meet  and  settle  the  case.  Tibo  and  Apotoi 
treacherously  attacked  the  commissioners  and  Amo.  The  latter 
successfully  resisted,  but  the  commissioners  were  killed,  with  the 
exception  of  Boakj^'e  and  his  captains  from  Kumase.  Hence  the 
oath:  Adanse-Praso.  The  king  fined  Tibo  and  Apgtoi  300  pere. 
dwans;  but  the  case  seems  to  have  been  adjourned  in  consequence 

of  the  death  of  the  king. 

On  the  accession  of  Osei  Tutu  Kwamena,  surnamed  Diasibe,  to 
the  stool  of  Asante,  an  appeal  was  made  by  Amo  to  have  the 
wrongdoers  brought  to  justice.  The  new  monarch  interfered,  and 
again  the  wrongdoers  attacked  Amo.  Then,  after  two  more  attempts 
at  reconciliation,  and  more  treachery  against  Amo,  Osei  Tutu  Kwamena 
marched  his  army  into  Asen. 

The  two  principalities  in  Akem,  Abuakwa  and  Kotoku,  had  been 
governed  by  several  kings  respectively  after  the  defeat  and  sub- 
jugation at  Beniia.  Ofori  Panyin,  Obiri  Korane  Aboree  and  Tshum 
Ampoforo  had  ascended  the  stool  of  Abuakwa;  likewise  Obeng  and 
Kotoku  Ampoma,  nephew  of  Karikari  Apaw,  one  of  the  hostages  to 
the  Adwumankus,  had  been  redeemed,  and  succeded  Obeng.  Apara- 
ku,  the  son  of  general  Bantama  Wua  of  Kumase,  succeeded  Tshum 
Ampoforo  I,  and  Ampoma  having  died  in  his  preparation  against 
Asen,  Opoku  succeeded  him.  These  kings  of  Akem  were  ordered 
by  Osei  Tutu  Kwamena  to  join  him  against  the  Asens. 

Tibo  and  Apotoi  tied  with  their  followers  into  the  Fante  territory. 
The  king  then  sent  a  present  to  Aknmanin,  king  of  Asikuma,  asking 
him  to  allow  the  Asante  forces  to  pass  through  his  country  in 
pursuit  of  his  rebellious    vassals.     Leave  was   granted,    and    Apea 


Chapter  X.  147 

Daiikwa,    the    Asante    general,    overtook    and    defeated    Tibo    and 
Apotoi. 

But  the  Fantes  then  joined  in  the  war,  and  attacked  the  Asantes, 
who  were  again  victorious.  All  the  Fante  tribes  now  united  with 
the  Asens,  who  had  bribed  their  chiefs.  The  Dutch  Governor  at 
Koromante  admitted  the  Asantes  to  the  fort,  and  the  king  himself 
advanced  to  Abora  with  a  considerable  force.  Colonel  Torrane  at- 
tempted to  mediate,  but  was  unsuccessful,  and  the  Asante  king, 
ascertaining  that  Tibo  and  Apotoi  had  taken  refuge  with  the  English, 
laid  siege  to  Anomabo  on  the  15"»  June  1807.  Mr.  White,  the  Governor, 
with  Messieurs  Meredith,  F.  L.  Swanzy,  Barnes  and  T.  A.  Smith,  and 
twent.y-four  men  including  some  artificers  and  servants,  received 
as  many  of  the  inhabitants  as  they  could,  and  determined  upon 
a  gallant  defence.  They  repulsed  every  assault  with  tremendous 
slaughter.  A  small  detachment  came  to  their  relief  by  sea,  and 
Colonel  Torrane  entered  into  negotiation  with  the  king.  At  this 
Juncture  a  whale  was  seen  moving  and  sporting  in  the  sea,  and 
the  name  "bonsu"  a  whale,  was  given  to  the  king.*) 

Colonel  Torrane"s  negotiations  were  not  honourable  to  England, 
as  he  agreed  to  give  up  the  refugees  to  the  vengeance  of  their 
enemies.  Apotoi  escaped,  but  Tibo  was  put  to  death  with  circum- 
stances of  atrocious  barbarity.  The  king,  having  expressed  his 
respect  for  the  brave  defence  of  the  garrison,  claimed  the  Fantes 
who  had  taken  refuge  there  as  prisoners.  He  was  at  last  satisfied 
with  half  their  number,  and  Colonel  Torrane,  keeping  the  other 
half,  sold  them  into  slavery.  The  king  declined  to  allow  Colonel 
Torrane  to  interfere  on  the  behalf  of  the  Fantes,  but  promised 
to  recognize  his  authority  in  the  towns  under  the  guns  of  the 
British  forts. 

It  is  to  the  credit  of  Mr.  John  Swanzy,  then  Governor  of  James 
Town,  Akra,  that  he  rose  from  his  sick-bed  and  went  by  canoe 
to  Cape  Coast  to  remonstrate  with  Colonel  Torrane  against  his 
pusillanimity  and  cruelty,  but  it  was  too  late.  Few  of  the  wretched 
Fante  prisoners  escaped  the  fate  of  victims  or  of  slaves,  and 
Mr.  Swanzy  returned  to  Akra  only  to  die,  but  with  the  satisfaction 
that  he  at  least  had  striven  (if  in  vain)  to  maintain  the  honour  of 
his  country. 

*)  Some  believe  that  the  name  "Bonsu"  was  given  to  the  king  on 
account  of  the  several  hundrerls  of  fishing  and  landing  canoes  he  ordered 
to   be  broken  at  the   beach  of  Anomabo. 

10* 


148  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

The  Asante  army  was  suffering  severely  from  the  climate  and 
bad  water  near  Cape  Coast,  but  they  were  put  in  motion,  and  de- 
feated the  Fantes  in  a  bloody  battle  near  Koromante. 

The  king  encamped  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Winneba  and 
Obutu,  which  he  destroyed  in  October.  A  steady  slave  traffic  was 
forthwith  opened  between  the  Akras  and  the  camp,  which  greatly 
irritated  the  Fantes.  But  the  king,  inconsequence  of  famine  and  an 
epidemic  of  small-pox,  returned  to  Kumase  toward  the  close  of  the 
year.  His  sister  Akuwa  Akurukuru  and  two  others  of  the  royal 
family  died  from  the  small-pox,  hence  the  second  reason  why  the 
oath  Koromante  became  so  binding:  —  the  murder  of  Osei  Tutu 
in  the  interior,  and  the  death  of  these  on  the  coast. 

On  the  king's  march  back  to  Kumase,  he  attacked  the  rich  queen 
Aberewa  Kobo,  and  after  3  days  fighting,  she  blew  herself  up  with 
powder.  Her  daughter  with  a  son  and  all  her  treasures  were  taken. 
That  grandson  of  Aberewa  Kobo  was  named  Afaboo  by  the  king, 
which  means,  he  has  taken  out  the  heart  of  the  queen,  i.e.  her 
dauo-hter  and  grand-child,  as  well  as  the  riches.  Afaboo  was  well 
educated  in  Kumase,  and  was  one  of  the  ambassadors  in  negotiating 
for  peace  in  1831. 

An  incident  took  place  between  king  Aparaku  of  Akem  and  his 
subjects  during  the  king's  march  to  Kumase.  At  Asenenyewa, 
the  Abuakwas  revolted  against  Aparaku  for  having  beheaded  four 
of  them.  The  case  was  brought  before  Osei  Bonsu,  and  Aparaku 
was  found  guilty.  Upon  this  the  chiefs  of  Akem  Abuakwa  de- 
serted their  king  and  went  back  home.  Only  the  chiefs  Abomosu 
Odom  Aku,  Kwabeii  Oware  and  the  linguist  Banyin  Kakawa  of 
Kubease  were  loyal  to  Aparaku  and  accompanied  him   to  Kumase. 

On  the  return  of  those  chiefs  to  Akem,  Bonsu  ordered  them  to 
tell  the  rest  of  the  chiefs  of  Abuakwa  that,  if  they  deposed  their 
king,  the  royal  stool  would  jiever  be  given  to  them,  unless  30  pere- 
dwans  were  paid.  The  chiefs  paid  the  amount,  which  was  brought 
over  to  Kumase  by  those  loyal  chiefs;  after  they  had  been  made 
to  swear  a  fetish  oath,  the  king  delivered  the  stool  to  them.  When  it 
was  brought,  Ata  Wusu  Yiakosan  succeeded  Aparaku,  and  the  king's 
message,  that  he  must  make  his  appearance  in  Kumase  after  being 
made  king  of  Akem,  was  delivered  by  Banyin  Kakawa  and  the 
two  other  chiefs.     Ata  agreed  to  visit  the  capital  after  3  years. 

B"or  the  same  cruelty  Akem  Poku,  the  king  of  Kotoku,  was  also 
deposed  by  his  chiefs.    Kwadwo  Kuma,  the  nephew  of  the  late  king 


Chapter  X.  149 

Ampoma,  was  the  right  heir  to  the  stool.  He  being  absent  from 
Dampong,  a  rich  relative,  by  name  Kwakye  Adeyefe,  was  chosen 
to  succeed  Opokn. 

The  cause  of  Kwadwo  Kuma's  (Kwadwowa's)  absence  was  that 
when  his  uncle  was  alive,  Tshum  Ampoforo  died  in  Abuakwa,  and 
he  was  sent  by  his  uncle  to  attend  the  funeral  of  the  late  king-.  He 
behaved  very  arrogantly,  competing  with  Ata,  whose  uncle  had 
died,  and  contracting  a  debt  of  5  peredwans  in  rum  bought  from 
Osarn  Kwasafo  of  Asikuma.  His  uncle  was  grieved  to  hear  of  Kwa- 
dwo Kuma's  lightmindedness,  and  refused  to  pay  the  amount.  He 
managed  to  borrow  the  sum  in  question  from  Dokuwa,  3^et  he  felt 
ashamed  to  return  home,  so  he  staid  a  long  time  with  Ata. — 

The  Obutus,  who  were  warned  of  the  king's  approach  when 
he  was  encamped  near  Winneba  in  1807,  brought  their  families  and 
property  to  Akra  for  shelter.  Nnamkoi  was  the  king  of  Obutu  at 
that  time.  A  rich  Obutu  chief,  by  name  Awushi  Tete,  had  sheltered  his 
property  with  chief  Saki  at  J.imes  Town.  The  war  being  over,  his  son 
Nsaki  asked  for  the  property;  but  Saki  had  sold  most  of  the  people 
into  slavery  and  given  the  rest  to  the  Asantes.  An  Obutu  refugee, 
by  name  Sami  nukpa,  who  escaped  from  Tshokg,  had  reported  to 
his  people  how  Saki  had  disposed  of  them.  The  sum  of  100  heads 
of  cowries,  one  puncheon  of  rum  and  a  bullock  were  presented  to 
the  Obutus  by  Saki  in  order  to  have  the  case  amicably  settled. 

The  property  not  being  produced,  a  meeting  was  held  at  Kpatsha- 
kole  a  few  miles  north  of  Akra  by  the  Obutus  and  Akras.  The 
enormous  sum  demanded  by  Nsaki,  so  irritated  the  Akras,  that 
one  Akuashong  Kwatei  stood  up  and  said,  ''Let  a  sum  like  that 
demanded  from  Saki  be  produced  by  whole  Obutu,  and  we  can 
afford  to  pay  it!"  Thus  the  meeting  broke  off  in  a  rage.  From 
that  time  the  Obutus  began  to  kidnap  Akra  women   and  children- 

A  company  for  defensive  warfare  was  organized  by  all  the  iron- 
hearted  men  of  Akra,  among  whom  were  Ato,  Nkroma,  Okule 
Apeseo,  Tete  Kwaw,  Ama  Gbagri,  Oblite,  Amui,  Teko  Owara,  A- 
dama  Adshagara,  Abe  Otwesa,  Ayi  Dshomoa,  Adama  Dshang,  Ofei 
Ashong-,  Kofi  Nanyiranse,  Aboadshe,  Ayi  Koto,  Ati,  Adshing  Owuo 
Akoa,  Ashi  Tshuru,  Afutu,  Kodsho  Saul  &c.  and  Adama  Pataku  as 
their  commander-in-chief.  Through  their  operations  a  stop  was  put 
to  the  inroads  of  the  kidnappers.  The  chief  weapons  which  they  car- 
ried with  them  were  a  kind  of  native  manufactured  large  hatchet 
or  bill-hook. 


150  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  ;iiid  Asante. 

When  the  kidnappers  were  checked,  the  chief  of  Akoti  in  Gomoa, 
by  name  Osiii'o,  encamped  at  Ngleigong,  with  the  view  to  obtain 
by  force  from  the  Akras  the  property  in  question. 

The  defensive  company,  being  headed  by  their  commander-in-chief 
Adama  Patakn,  attacked  Osafo  one  night  and  totally  routed  his  force. 
He  was  wounded  and  died  on  the  way.  His  wife  Dekyi  was  caught, 
but  escaped ;  his  other  wives,  however,  were  taken  prisoners.  Some 
fugitives  from  the  scene  of  action  brought  the  sad  intelligence  to 
Akoti.  And  to  punish  their  enemies,  they  hired  Fante  Gomoa  people, 
who,  with  other  Fantes,  bore  bitterest  grudge  against  theEiminas  and 
Akras  on  account  of  their  friendship  with  the  Asantes,  who,  during 
their  late  invasion  of  Fante,  had  carried  on  a  steady  traffic  with  them 
in  slaves,  of  the  prisoners  taken  there.  They  had  determined  to  re- 
venge themselves  one  day,  and  gladly  seized  the  present  opportunity. 

In  the  year  1809  the  combined  forces  of  Obutu  and  Fante  invaded 
Akra.  They  formed  their  cam]>  west  of  the  town  from  the  lagoon 
Kole  to  the  east.  They  appeared  so  unexpectedly  that  the  farmers 
in  their  plantation  villages  had  no  time  to  enter  the  town.  Saki 
ordered  a  gong  to  be  beaten  that  no  one  should  interfere,  saying, 
it  was  a  case  between  himself  alone,  but  not  tlie  whole  town's 
people.  After  he  had  failed  with  the  offer  of  one  pipe  of  rum,  a 
thousand  heads  of  cowries  and  some  bullocks  to  purchase  peace, 
the  investing  army  ordered  an  attack.  The  Akras,  having  found 
how  they  pressed  into  the  town,  did  not  take  notice  of  the  gong, 
but  opened  lire  on  them  on  Saturday  1809.  The  commandant  in 
James  Fort  ordered  his  few  soldiers  to  stand  outside,  to  protect  it 
from  being  stormed.  The  fire  of  James  Town  people  began  to  slacken, 
so  Mr.  Hansen  ran  to  the  commandant  in  the  Fort  to  render  them 
assistance  by  the  guns,  which  he  refused  to  do,  declaring  himself 
neutral,  and  that,  if  he  should  comply  with  his  request,  he  must 
pay  an  ounce  of  gold  for  every  shot.  Mr.  Hansen  then  left  the  Fort, 
took  a  supply  of  ammunition  to  the  Dutch  Fort,  and  there  he  ren- 
dered his  people  the  desired  assistance  to  drive  otf  the  enemy. 
Even  his  mother  stood  behind  her  people,  among  whom  was  Koti  Ape- 
trepe,  to  fight  the  enemy.  Hence  she  got  the  apellation  ''Asare  wen  tentu, 
one  mmenini  koe".  Mr.  Neizer,  a  coloured  man  of  Elmina,  contri- 
buted largely  to  the  success  of  the  day.  The  enemy  was  first  repulsed 
by  Dutch  Town  people,  and  combined  with  those  of  James  Town,  both 
chased  him  with  immense  loss,  and  then  they  retired.  The  principal 
men  among  the  invaders  were  Okomfo  Hene  and  Apatu  Kofi. 


Chapter  XI.  151 

During-  the  same  year  the  Fantes  and  Wasas,  with  the  people 
of  Cape  Coast  and  Anomabo  also,  joined  together  to  take  revenge 
on  the  Elminas.  Governor  White  was  unable  to  dissuade  even  the 
people  of  Cape  Coast  from  this  step.  Indeed  they  were  forced  into 
it  by  the  Fantes^  who  threatened  them  with  an  attack,  if  they  refused 
to  join  the  alliance  against  Elmina.  They  formed  their  camp  behind 
the  town,  and  made  various  unsuccessful  attacks  upon  it,  which  failed 
through  the  assistance  rendered  by  the  Dutch  guns  from  Fort  St.  Jago. 
Finding  it  impossible  to  gain  possession  of  Elmina,  which  they  had 
hoped  to  plunder  and  destroy,  they  proceeded  to  invest  it  closely. 
The  inhabitants  were  sometimes  reduced  to  considerable  straits; 
but  having  a  free  communication  from  seaward,  there  was  no  ab- 
solute want  of  supplies.  They  suffered  a  good  deal,  however,  from 
occasional  skirmishes;  but  the  allies  had  the  worst  of  it,  being  iu 
great  distress  for  provisions,  and  so  they  returned  home. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Evacuation  of  Dutch  Town's  people  to  Kaneshi,  or  the  efforts  on  the 
part  of  the  Danish  and  English  Governments  on  the  Gold  Coast,  in 
abolishing  the  Slave  Trade.    1807—1847. 

We  should  do  great  injustice  to  the  European  governments  on 
the  Gold  Coast,  if  we  were  silent  on  this  important  subject,  although 
their  main  object  in  settling  on  this  coast  had  been  slave  trade, — 
a  trade  which  greatly  decreased  the  population  of  the  country.  A 
writer  of  the  seventeenth  century  says,  ''Europeans  frequently  carried 
from  the  West  Coast  above  100,000  slaves  a  year.  The  very  great 
extent  to  which  this  traffic  is  carried  on  on  the  West  Coast  undoubt- 
edly gives  rise  to  many  abuses  among  the  native  states  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  is  productive  of  frequent  wars  among  them." 
Of  the  Portuguese  he  says,  "They  introduced  their  religion  among 
the  natives,  and  their  slaves  are  catechised  and  baptised  before  they 
are  shipped,  which  tends  to  diminish  the  terrors  attending  trans- 
portation. Their  slave-ships  are  never  crowded,  and  are  chiefly  navi- 
gated by  black  marines" —  Kruboys  perhaps,  for  whose  faithful 
and  good  services  it  was  arranged  between  the  Portuguese  and  the 
Kruboys,  never  to  make  slaves  of  them;  hence  the  mark  on  their 
foreheads  is  a  sign  of  freedom.   All  the  forts  built  by  the  Portuguese, 


152  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Dutch,  English,  Danish,  French,  Swedes,  and  Brandenburg,  from 
Asini  down  to  Keta,  were  for  the  slave-trade  oi\\y.  In  1803  slave- 
trade  entirely  ceased  throughout  all  the  colonies  of  Denmark.  On 
the  25*1^  March  1807  the  slave-trade  was  abolished  by  the  English, 
and  English  cruisers  were  sent  to  the  West  Coast  to  capture  the 
slave-ships.  Yet  domestic  slavery  could  not  be  put  down  either  by 
the  English  or  Danish  government.  In  prosecuting,  however,  their 
object,  both  governments  had  often  to  resort  to  hard  measures. 

After  general  Amankwa  had  left  for  Asante,  the  country  enjoyed 
peace,  but  then  the  slave-trade  with  the  Portuguese  became  brisk. 
Chief  Ankra  was  the  general  broker  for  the  slave-dealers.  All  the 
influential  chiefs,  such  as  Ato,  Sempe  Mensa,  Kwatei  Kodsho,  Tete 
Tshuru,  Dowuona,  &c.  had  their  hands  in  it.  As  there  was  no  com- 
mandant in  the  Dutch  Fort  at  that  time,  Dutch  Town  was  made 
the  depot.  Slaves  were  sold  during  night,  and  Ankra  had  the  charge 
to  keep  them  till  a  slaver  arrived,  and  the  poor  people  were  shipped  in 
the  night,  all  to  avoid  detection  by  the  English  and  Danish  governments. 

In  August,  about  the  year  1819,  when  the  Akras  were  congre- 
gated in  Dutch  Town  for  the  celebration  of  their  yearly  feast,  an 
English  man-of-war  arrived  on  the  roads  on  one  Thursday.  On  the 
following  day  nothing  was  heard;  but  in  the  afternoon  of  Saturday, 
when  the  inhabitants  were  about  to  commence  oshi  (the  demon- 
stration of  the  king,  chiefs  and  people  of  their  merriment),  the  ship 
fired  at  the  house  of  chief  Ankra.  The  warriors  at  once  armed, 
and  put  themselves  in  battle-array  on  the  beach,  ready  for  the 
landing  of  the  marines.  None  came  on  shore,  but  the  fire  continued 
day  and  night  till  the  close  of  Sunday.  On  Mondaj^  the  ship  left. 
Ankra's  house  lay  in  ruins,  some  other  houses  were  damaged,  and 
the  big  fetish-tree  as  well  as  the  upper  part  of  Sakumo's  shed  were 
knocked  down. 

About  the  second  month  of  the  year  1820,  a  squadron  of  seven 
English  men-of-war  arrived  on  the  roads  with  the  view  to  suppress 
the  slave-trade  by  force  of  arms.  The  Marines  proceeded  to  land 
in  .Tames  Fort,  but  the  Akras  at  once  removed  all  their  property 
to  Christiansborg  and  to  their  plantation  villages,  and  left  for  Kaneshi, 
about  three  miles  from  town. 

Ankra's  house  was  pulled  down,  and  his  property  confiscated, 
all  the  fishing  and  landing  canoes  were  removed  to  James  Town. 
King  Kudsha  Okai  and  his  chiefs,  Akwete  Krobosaki,  Akotia  Owosika, 
and  Apomsa,  determined  to  fight  the  marines,  if  they  proceeded  to 


Chapter  XL  153 

Kaneshi,  but  never  to  attack  them  iii  town.  It  was  reported  that 
the  marines  either  paraded  outside  the  town,  or  had  the  intention 
to  attack  the  Akras  at  Kaneshi;  but  when  the  Akras  came  to  meet 
them,  the  marines  marched  back  to  town.  The  farmers  were  during 
this  campaign  prohibited  from  bringing-  in  provisions  to  town,  hence 
the  James  Town  people  had  the  worst  of  the  whole  alfair. 

Through  the  interposition  of  some  influential  men,  the  English 
government  agreed  that  the  king  and  his  chiefs  should  return  to 
the  town,  but  the  slave-dealers  should  be  delivered  up  for  punish- 
ment. The  king,  not  willing  to  deliver  them  over,  alone  with  the 
chiefs  and  fishermen  returned,  but  Ankra  went  to  Kpokpoase, 
Kwatei  Kodsho  to  Opa,  Tete  Tshuru  to  Kwabenyan,  and  Sempe 
Mensa  to  Amamore. 

A  slave-ship,  being  chased  by  the  English  cruisers  during  those 
days,  was  obliged  to  land  160  slaves  on  shore  at  Tenia  in  charge 
of  one  Mr.  Smith  from  Dutch  Town.  The  governor  of  Christiansborg, 
Major  Steffens,  hearing  of  them,  armed  his  subjects  of  Christiansborg, 
Labade,  and  Teshi,  and  proceeded  himself  with  his  soldiers  to  rescue 
these  slaves.  But  chief  Ankra  had  already  prepared  an  army  of 
the  warriors  of  Dutch  Town,  who  were  with  him  in  the  bush,  and 
being  headed  by  his  brother  Ayi  Kokosaki,  they  reached  Tema 
before  the  governor's  arrival,  and  removed  the  people  into  the  bush. 
The  governor  and  his  arm}'  arrived  there  late,  and  got  only  few  of 
the  slaves,  who  had  been  left  behind  in  the  hurry  of  removal.*; 
The  Temas  were  partially  plundered  for  allowing  slave-dealing  in 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Danish  government.  The  slave-dealers  re- 
mained in  the  bush  for  three  years.  The  English  Government  over- 
looked the  matter  when  Sir  Charles  was  preparing  to  invade  Asante, 
and  so  they  returned  to  the  Coast. 

The  Danish  Government  was  also  ardent  in  suppressing  the  slave- 
trade.  All  their  subjects  caught  practising  that  nefarious  traffic 
wore  deported,  and  their  property  confiscated.  A  coloured  man  of 
Christiansborg  was  accused  of  dealing  in  slaves;  his  lands  and  slaves 
at  Sesemi  as  well  as  his  house  (which  afterwards  became  the  pro- 
perty of  the  Basel  Mission  at  Christiansborg  b,v  purchase)  were 
confiscated  and  sold  by  public  auction.  The  commandants  in  the 
forts  at  Teshi,  Ningo,  Ada  and  Keta  were  strictly  charged  to  suppress 


*)  Labi  Sisiabo,  the  chief  of  Tenia,  prudently  met  the  governor  at  the 
mouth  of  the  la2,oon  Sakumo   witli   a  flag:   of  truce. 


154  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

the  trade.  Although  domestic  slave-dealing-  was  not  prohibited,  but 
that  with  the  Portuguese,  or  selling  one  to  the  leeward,  where  the 
trade  was  encouraged,  and  not  to  the  windward,  was  a  criminal  act 
and  severely  punished. 

In  18311  governor  Hans  Angel  Giede  was  informed  that  one 
Don  Jose  Mora,  a  Portuguese  slave-dealer,  had  established  a  depot 
at  Bato  on  the  bank  of  the  Volta.  The  governor,  at  the  head  of 
about  60  soldiers  and  some  armed  men,  the  chaplain  Mr.  Torsletf 
and  Mr.  W.  Lutterodt  marched  to  Bato  to  apprehend  Don  Jose  Mora. 
He  tried  to  fire  a  pistol  at  the  Governor,  but  tailed  and  was  cap- 
tured with  his  weapon.  His  goods  and  a  few  slaves  he  had  bought 
were  confiscated.*)  After  promising  never  to  carry  on  slave-trade 
in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Danish  government,  he  was  set  free.  Don 
Jose  Mora  shortly  after  opened  the  slave-trade  at  Wei  in  Angula. 
In  1842  the  Danish  governor  Wilkens  with  Mr.  W.  Wulff,  the  secre- 
tary and  treasurer,  and  1.50  soldiers  set  sail  in  an  American  trading- 
vessel  to  apprehend  the  malefactor.  They  landed  at  night,  and 
marched  to  attack  Don  Jose  Mora,  who  managed,  however,  to  jump 
through  a  window  of  his  house  and  escaped.  His  property  and 
slaves  were  captured  and  brought  to  Christiansborg.  Such  slaves 
were  set  free,  but  to  protect  them,  as  they  could  not  easilj^  have 
got  back  to  their  countries,  they  were  added  to  the  emancipated 
slaves  of  the  government,  and  employed  as  labourers  for  monthly  pay. 
There  was  at.  that  time  a  custom  of  transferring  slaves,  after  the 
death  of  their  masters,  by  public  auction  to  new  masters,  provided 
there  was  no  legitimate  successor  to  the  estate.  The  amount  paid 
by  their  new  masters  was  added  to  other  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  the 
testator's  effects  and  transmitted  to  the  lawful  heirs,  wherever  tliey 
might  live.  Such  being  the  case,  a  wealthy  West  Indian  of  the  name 
of  Johan  Christian  Balck,  who  had,  many  years  before,  come  into  the 
country  as  a  government  agent,  died  on  the  2"'^  Oct.  1843.  He  had 
possessed  lands  at  Abokobi  with  more  than  200  slaves,  and  died 
intestate  without  a  son  or  right  heir.  The  slaves  anticipated  that 
the  custom  of  transferring  slaves  to  new  masters  might  be  put  into 
practice  in  their  case  too.  Mr.  Balck  having  been  a  government 
agent  and  not  a  native  of  the  country,  the  government  proposed 
to    protect  the   estate.     But  the  slaves    determined    to  oppose   the 


*)  'i'he   pistol    was   presented   to    Mr.  Carl  August  Reindorf,    then    in 
service  of  the  sTOvernor. 


Chapter  XI.  155 

government  when  interfering  with  the  estate;  however  Paspo,  the 
elder  among-  them,  was  apprehended  and  arrested  in  the  Fort.  One 
morning  the  prisoners  were  condncted  by  Private  Jonas  Reindorf 
to  the  sea-shore  behind  the  fort,  for  the  purpose  of  going  to  privj. 
A  good  number  of  the  slaves,  armed  with  clubs  and  swords,  had 
concealed  themselves  behind  the  fishing  canoes  on  the  beach,  and 
all  at  once  rushed  upon  the  prisoners  to  extricate  their  elder  from 
the  rest.  The  sentry  as  well  as  the  few  soldiers  on  guard  rushed 
to  the  assistance  of  the  soldier,  but  were  overpowered  by  the  greater 
number  of  the  assailants.  The  onset  was  so  furious  that  the  soldiers 
might  have  resorted  to  arms;  but  in  peaceful  times  wooden  flints 
were  used  instead  of  the  natural  ones,  and  ammunition  could  not 
be  distributed  then  and  there,  as  the  officials  in  the  Castle  had  set 
out  for  Akuapem,  to  settle  disturbances  which  had  broken  out  there. 
The  slaves  carried  off  their  elder.  Private  Joseph  Fleischer  was 
severel}^  wounded  on  the  head  during  the  struggle.  The  few  soldiers 
left,  as  well  as  the  townspeople,  were  ordered  to  arms,  and  swiftly 
marched  against  the  slaves.  At  Abokobi  they  were  found  to  have 
quitted  the  place,  having  taken  refuge  in  several  villages  belonging 
to  the  Labades  and  Teshis  at  Kwantanang.  So  the  armed  men 
returned  home  with  one  or  two  men  captured.  The  infuriated  slaves 
agitated  the  whole  townspeople  and  the  government,  so  that  at  last 
their  quarter  was  bombarded.  They  made  themselves  free,  but  dis- 
persed in  the  country. 

By  virtue  of  the  treaty  of  1784  the  Fort  was  built  at  Keta,  and 
was  occupied  by  government  officials,  whether  Europeans  or  natives, 
as  commandants.  When  the  slave-trade  was  abolished  by  the  Danish 
Government  in  their  settlements  on  the  coast,  the  fort  was  not  kept 
in  proper  repair.  In  1844  Sergeant  J.  C.  Hesse  was  appointed  com- 
mandant of  Keta  to  relieve  H.  Meyer.  On  Mr.  Hesse's  arrival  he 
was  informed  that  the  old  Don  Jose  Mora  and  two  other  slave- 
dealers  were  still  at  Wei,  carrying  on  that  nefarious  traffic.  He, 
according  to  his  instructions,  prepared  to  attack  them  at  that  place; 
but  they  heard  of  his  intentions,  and  removed  the  slaves  to  a  place 
out  of  the  Danish  jurisdiction.  Mr.  Hesse  one  night  saw  old  Don 
Jose  Mora  passing  by  the  fort  with  a  gang  of  slaves.  Ordering  out 
the  few  soldiers  underhis  command,  and  joined  by  Mr.  Walter  Hansen 
and  some  young  men  from  the  town,  he  overtook  the  gang  and 
ordered  them  to  halt,  upon  which  Don  Jose  pointed  his  pistol  at 
Mr.  Hesse,   and    three   times  attempted  to  fire,    but   without   effect. 


156  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaiite. 

He  was  then  caught  and  the  pistol  taken  from  him.  The  slaves  were 
brought  to  the  fort,  but  the  dealers  were  suffered  to  depart.  Induced 
by  bribes  from  these  dealers,  the  king  and  elders  of  Angula  requested 
Mr.  Hesse  and  Mr.  Hansen  to  give  back  the  slaves;  which  they 
refused  to  do.  There  was  an  English  man-of-war  in  the  roads, 
whose  assistance  they  might  have  claimed,  but  no  reliable  person 
was  found  to  bear  the  letter.  The  fort  was  out  of  repair,  and  the 
enraged  Angulas,  who  came  to  get  Hie  slaves  back,  easily  penetrated. 
Sergeant  Hesso  would  have  persisted  in  his  refusal  to  give  up  the 
slaves,  as  they  were  then  locked  up  in  one  of  the  prisons.  But 
he  found  that  there  was  want  of  courage  with  those  who  should 
assist  him  in  that  work.  And  the  elders  of  Angula  said,  as  their 
people  had  assisted  him  in  capturing  the  slaves,  he  must  return 
them  to  the  owners,  that  they  might  not  incur  trouble  from  the 
Portuguese.  Should  he  refuse,  they  were  prepared  to  break  open 
the  doors  of  the  prison.  The  king  held  himself  responsible  in  case 
the  governor  should  claim  them  back  from  him.  Thus,  by  the 
advice  of  Mr.  Andreas  Malm  and  Mr.  H.  Malm,  Sergeant  Hesse  and 
Mr.  Hansen  agreed  and  gave  the  slaves  back  to  the  king,  who  had 
promised  to  keep  them  till  the  governor's  arrival.  He  then  and 
there  sent  an  express  messenger  with  a  letter,  and  reported  to 
Governor  Carstensen  what  had  happened,  and  the  reason  why  he 
gave  way  to  the  demand  of  the  king.  The  fort  being  out  of  repair, 
the  soldiers  determined  not  to  fight,  but  were  ready  to  desert  him 
at  the  crisis.  Governor  Carstensen,  on  receipt  of  this  report,  marched 
with  the  soldiers  under  Lieutenant  Svedstrup  to  Keta.  The  king 
and  elders  of  Angula  were  summoned,  and  the  Angulas  were  pun- 
ished for  assisting  the  Portuguese  to  claim  back  the  slaves.  The 
governor  returned  to  Christiansborg,  and  despatched  Lieutenant 
Svedstrup  with  16  soldiers  to  Keta,  to  get  the  fort  repaired.  A  few 
months  afterwards  Governor  Carstensen  returned  to  Europe,  and 
was  succeeded  by  Governor  Schmidt. 

Among  the  slaves  were  two  men  whom  Mr,  Hesse  harboured; 
an  Akuapem  man,  by  name  Ashong  Agbo,  was  one  of  them.  On 
the  return  of  Lieutenant  Svedstrup,  he  was  brought  home  and 
made  free. 

As  the  Governor  had  ordered  the  repair  of  the  fort,  Lieutenant 
Svedstrup  was  appointed  commandant  of  Keta,  and  Mr.  Hesse,  who 
had  meanwhile  been  relieved  by  Mr.  H.  Malm,  was  again  appointed 
sergeant.   On  their  arrival  there,  they  commenced  buying  shells  and 


Chapter  XI.  *  157 

firewood  to  prepare  lime  for  the  repairs.  Among  others,  captain 
Dshokoto  of  Anyako,  in  company  of  his  people,  sold  firewood,  and 
was  paid  for  it.  After  some  time  they  returned  to  say  their  pay 
was  too  small.  They  were  told  that  the  commandant  had  gone  to 
his  bedroom  for  a  recreation.  While  waiting  for  him,  one  of  them 
turned  round  and  began  to  make  water.  He  was  warned  by  the 
sentry,  but  refused  to  obey.  A  quarrel  ensued.  The  sergeant  was 
coming  to  make  peace,  when  the  captain  held  a  fist  in  his  face, 
as  if  to  box  him;  upon  which  the  sentrj-  struck  off  his  hand  with 
the  sword  he  wore,  which  the  captain  tried  to  snatch  and  got  his 
fingers  wounded.  The  assailants  now  retired  to  the  town  very  much 
incensed,  and  armed  themselves  with  clubs,  awaiting  to  take  revenge 
as  soon  as  any  of  the  soldiers  were  found  in  town. 

The  commandant  had  visited  captain  Marman,  and  on  his  return 
to  the  fort  was  assaulted  by  them.  On  being  told  what  was  going 
on  in  town,  the  few  soldiers  on  guard  rushed  to  defend  their  master. 
They  were  using  their  swords  fiat,  but  the  assault  becoming  serious, 
the  lieutenant  exclaimed,  "Cut  them  to  pieces!"  An  Angula  man 
raised  a  club  against  one  of  the  soldiers,  who  received  it  wnth  the 
sword  and  cut  one  of  his  ears  off.  Another  wielded  his  club,  but 
missed,  when  the  soldier  gave  him  a  deadly  cut  in  the  belly.  His 
comrades  fied,  and  the  three  soldiers  marched  back  to  the  fort  with 
the  commandant,  just  as  their  comrades,  who  had  been  in  town, 
were  coming  to  their  aid,  and  the  gate  was  locked.  The  whole 
town  was  in  uproar  that  day,  and  the  next  morning  the  whole 
Angula  force  came  to  Keta  in  arms,  demanding  the  commandant 
to  deliver  up  the  soldier  who  killed  the  man  to  be  punished.  Their 
request  not  being  complied  with,  they  blockaded  the  Ibrt,  and  forbade 
selling  provisions  to  the  soldiers.  Their  mess-women  in  town  were 
also  strictly  tbrbidden  to  cook  for  them.  They  managed,  however, 
for  some  time,  to  pass  food  in  their  clothes,  till  they  were  found  out 
and  prevented.  The  commandant  could  obtain  no  bearer  to  inform 
the  governor.  Fortunately  an  Ada  woman  was  found  passing  up, 
who  concealed  in  her  dress  a  letter,  which  she  delivered  to  the 
commandant  at  Ada,  by  whom  it  was  forwarded  to  Governor  Schmidt 
at  Christiansborg.  He  received  the  letter  in  .July  1847.  At  4  o'clock 
the  same  day  His  Excellency  started  with  Mr.  Andreas  Bergesen, 
as  an  interi)reter,  Mr.  Walter  Hansen,  75  soldiers  under  command 
of  sergeant  Andreas  Malm,  with  2  congreve  rockets,  and  50  armed 
government  labourers  as  basket-  and  load-carriers.     They  quartered 


158  History  of  tlie  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

at  Prampram,  and  reached  Adafo  the  following  day.  The  king  of  Ada 
having  provided  sufficient  canoes,  they  crossed  on  the  third  day 
and  then  formed  their  divisions,  the  governor  and  his  staff  with  the  car- 
riers in  the  middle,  one  half  of  the  soldiers  in  the  front,  and  the  other  half 
in  the  rear.  They  had  breakfast  at  Dshita,  where  they  were  hospitably 
received.  Half  an  hour's  march  brought  them  in  view  of  a  Hag,  the 
ensign  coming  to  meet  them.  His  Excellency  then  jumped  down 
from  the  basket,  and  marched  before  the  soldiers.  Tlie  ensign  reported 
that  chief  Ndokutshu  of  Atoko  was  coming  to  fire  a  salute,  to  which 
the  governor  objected,  as  being  unadvisable  in  a  time  of  commotion. 
At  Atoko  they  were  grandlj^  received  and  richly  entertained,  and 
two  messengers  appointed  to  lead  them  on.  At  Angula,  the  capital, 
they  were  hooted  at  for  being  carried  in  baskets,  as  such  was  against 
their  religious  custom.  All  that  was  said  against  them  was  mis- 
interpreted to  the  governor.  Passing  through  the  towns  they  reached 
Dshadukofe  and  indicated  their  approach  by  firing  two  rockets.  It 
was  the  most  joyful  day  for  the  commandant  and  the  soldiers,  who 
were  starving  since  the  fort  was  blockaded.  They  marched  out  to 
meet  the  governor,  who  entered  with  his  arnl3^  The  chiefs  and 
elders  of  Keta  were  summoned  the  next  day  to  appear  before  His 
Excellency.  They  were  asked  why  they  allowed  the  Anyakos  and 
Angulas  to  tight  against  the  government'?  They  asked  for  a  certain 
time  to  answer  it,  and  this  being  granted,  retired  to  town.  The 
time  fixed  was  up,  but  none  appeared.  A  fresh  summons  was  issued, 
all  to  no  effect.  Sergeant  Hesse  was  then  ordered  to  apprehend 
them.  One  of  them  was  arrested;  the  soldiers  went  into  the  next 
house  and  found  old  Akpaku,  who  asked  leave  to  put  on  his  dress. 
He  went  into  his  room,  but  did  not  choose  to  come  out.  The 
soldiers  went  in  and  found  him  holding  a  finger-ring  which  he  put 
into  his  moutli.  He  was  dragged  out,  but  refused  to  walk,  yet  the 
soldiers  carried  him  into  the  fort.  There  and  then  they  found  him 
dj'ing,  which  was  immediately  reported  to  the  governor,  who  requested 
them  to  send  him  away  then;  but  on  being  carried  out  of  the 
fort,  he  expired.    His  people  fetched  him  home  and  buried  him. 

During  the  night  all  Angula  assembled  in  arms,  and  at  daybreak 
the}^  opened  fire  on  the  fort.  The  garrison  gallantly  held  out  for 
weeks;  immense  numbers  of  those  Angulas  were  slain.  Private  Carl 
Engmann  displayed  a  remarkable  heroism  during  the  whole  siege. 
On  seeing  a  detachment  of  the  enemy,  he  fired  one  of  the  guns 
among   them,   which   not  only   destroyed    many   lives,   but  dashed 


Chapter  XI.  159 

out  the  brains  of  the  linguist  just  addressing  the  army.  Cut  oft", 
however,  from  every  communication,  the  garrison  suffered  fearfully 
from  want  of  provisions.  Chief  Tei  alone  was  loyal  to  the  government, 
and  secretly  provided  them  with  corn  and  some  fowls,  which  were 
divided  among  the  soldiers.  The  cassava  fields  of  the  enemy  had  all 
been  pillaged  by  them  during  the  night.  Providentially  a  French 
man-of-war  "Abeille"  anchored  oft"  Keta.  It  seems  there  were  no 
signals  in  the  fort  to  communicate  directly  with  the  ship.  The 
Danish  Hag  was,  however,  hoisted  up  and  down,  and  then  the  French 
tlag.  Governor  Schmidt  determined  to  go  on  board,  the  soldiers 
were  ordered  to  fall  in,  and  the  government  canoe,  laying  outside 
the  fort,  was  carried  in  the  hollow  square  of  the  soldiers  to  the 
seashore.  The  enemy  opened  fire  on  them.  In  precipitation  the 
canoemen  uncorked  the  natural  hole  of  the  canoe,  but  launched  in. 
The  soldiers  were  trying  to  clear  the  enemy  off  to  get  into  the  fort, 
when  to  their  surprise  they  found  His  Excellency  in  water  being 
driven  fast  by  the  current  towards  the  enemy.  Immediately  tliey 
marched  under  fires  to  his  rescue,  sergeant  Schandorf  and  Carl  Eng- 
mann  crossed  and  swam  over,  got  hold  on  him,  and  brought  him 
on  shore.  Two  of  the  canoemen,  Adang  and  Ashiriti,  imagining  to 
have  relations  at  Angula,  kept  to  the  canoe.  They  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy  and  were  killed.  With  the  exception  of  these 
two  men  there  was  no  loss  of  life.  About  half  a  dozen  soldiers  got 
wounded,  among  whom  were  Daniel  Reindorf  and  Christian  Miller. 
The  next  day,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  the  ship  sent  out  two  boats 
well  equipped  close  to  shore  so  as  to  obtain  communications  from 
the  garrison.  A  capital  swimmer,  by  name  Sanka,  volunteered  to 
carry  the  governor's  letter  on  board.  He  was  conducted  by  the 
soldiers  to  the  shore  and  swam  to  the  boats;  news  of  the  state  of 
the  garrison  was  conveyed  to  the  captain  of  the  ship,  who  asked 
a  loan  of  canoes  from  captain  Marman's  vessel,  then  on  the  roads, 
which  favour  was  denied.  They  took  the  canoes,  however,  by  force, 
and  sent  a  good  supply  of  provisions  the  next  day  in  canoes  and 
boats.  The  soldiers,  being  read}^,  met  the  enemy  right  and  left, 
while  from  the  ship  and  boats  showers  of  grape-shot  were  poured 
on  them.  The  ships  not  only  supplied  the  garrison  with  provisions, 
but  effectually  cleared  the  coast  of  the  enemy. 

The  governor  then  embarked  for  Christiansborg,  and  had  a  meeting 
with  the  kings  and  chiefs  in  alliance  with  the  Danish  government, 
to  organize   an   expedition    against  the  Angulas.     He  also  reported 


160  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

the  case  to  the  authorities  in  Denmark,  and  Commodore  Kling  oi 
H.  M.  S.  "Ornen",  was  sent  out  to  punish  them.  On  their  arrival, 
the  governor  again  embarked  with  the  soldiers  for  Keta.  On  reach- 
ing Wei,  a  canoe  was  perceived  with  13  men,  who  came  on  board, 
not  knowing  what  ship  it  was.  They  were  arrested  and  brought 
to  Keta.  The  Angulas,  cowed  by  the  late  war,  sued  for  peace,  as 
soon  as  the  governor  landed  with  the  nuirines  and  soldiers  from 
the  ship.  A  court  was  held  and  the  case  adjusted;  a  fine  of  J^  2000 
was  imposed  upon  the  Angulas,  600  were  paid  then  and  there,  and 
the  governor  retired  to  Christiansborg  in  the  same  ship  with  the 
forces.  The  slave-trade  was  much  suppressed  from  that  time  in 
Angula,  and  the  depot  was  established  by  the  Portuguese  at  Little 
and  Grand  Popo. 

The  entire  suppression  and  general  emancipation  of  slaves  domestic 
and  the  like,  could  not  be  effected  either  by  the  Danish  or  English 
government  till  the  year  1874,  al'ter  Kumase  had  been  captured  and 
the  power  of  Asante  broken  by  the  English.  However,  before  the 
general  emancipation  took  place,  the  Basel  Mission  on  the  Gold  coast 
had  abolished  domestic  slavery  and  pawning  of  people  in  all  their 
congregations  in  1862. 

The  slave-trade  was  commenced  in  1517,  and  the  general  abolition 
and  emancipation  took  place  in  1874.  It  was  a  disease  which  had 
been  imported  by  Europeans,  and  which  had  affected  the  whole 
country  during  a  period  of  357  years.  Providentially  the  curse 
was  removed  by  the  English  government,  but  left  the  country  without 
a  substitute.  If  our  English  government  would  encourage  and  assist 
the  introduction  of  railways  into  the  country,  the  vast  amount  of 
money  sustained  as  a  loss  by  the  emancipation,  could  be  compen- 
sated. Labour  and  living  would  be  cheap,  trade  would  flourish,  the 
country  would  improve  rapidly,  and  the  revenue  would  increase. 


CHAPTER  XIL 

The  first  Asante  revenge  on  the  enemies  of  Akra  by  General  Opoku 
Fredefrede.  —  The  second  invasion  by  the  triple  army  of  Fante, 
Akem  and  Akuapem  on  Thursday,  commonly  called  S5ta.  Kvvadvio 
Kuma's  rebellion,  and  the  second  Asante  revenge  by  General  Amankwa 

•    Abunyawa.    1811—1816. 

The  existence  of  brotherhood  or  friendship  between  the  Akras  and 
Asantes  will  in  the  following  chapter  be  proved  by  traditions  and 


Chapter  XII.  161 

narratives  showing  how  the  Asantes  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
atl'airs  of  the  Akras. 

The  king  of  Asante,  on  hearing  about  the  recent  invasion  of  Akra 
by  the  Obutus  and  Gomoas,  and  that  of  the  Elhninas  by  the  Fantcs, 
appointed  his  general  Opoku  with  a  large  army  to  punish  the  Obutu 
and  Gomoa  people,  and  Apea  Dankwa,  with  another  force,  to  punish 
the  Fantes.  Captain  Boakye  Yam  and  Odunkyi*)  with  300  armed 
men  were  sent  by  the  king  to  Akein  to  ask  the  linguists  Banyira 
Kakawa,  Odom  Aku  and  Oware,  why  Ata  Yiakosan  had  not  as  yet 
kept  his  promise  of  visiting  the  capital?  King  Kwakye  Yadeefe 
should  appoint  messengers  to  accompany  them  to  Ata.  Whilst  they 
were  staying  40  days  at  Dampong,  Ata  heard  of  them,  and  secretly 
sent  prince  Apeanin  with  12  men  to  enquire  of  Kwakye  the  object 
of  those  messengers  from  Kumase.  The  prince  was  sent  back  to 
say,  their  mission  had  no  other  design  than  to  invite  him  to  the 
capital.  Ata  thereupon  sent  Kwakye  a  fetish  to  swear  upon,  wliether 
there  was  really  nothing  serious  connected  with  tlie  mission.  Kwakye 
declined;  so  Ata  at  once  prepared  for  the  worst.  He  captured  00' 
peaceful  Asante  traders,  among  whom  was  prince  Owusu  Nantshiri^ 
who  had  received  a  large  amount  of  the  king's  stipend  from  the 
Danish  government,  together  with  valuable  furnitures  and  goods, 
and  was  accompanied  by  Kwamena  Kuma  of  Christiansborg,  the 
messenger  of  the  Danes.   The  goods  were  taken  and  the  traders  killed. 

When  this  was  reported  at  Dampong,  the  commissioners  returned 
to  Knmase  to  tell  the  king.  Kwakye  sided  with  the  Asantes  and 
delivered  to  them  Agyei  Korowa,  mother  of  Kwadwo  Kuma,  and 
her  sister  Bosuma  with  her  daughter  Ohewa,  and  Adwowa  Buaso, 
sister  of  Kwadvvo  Kuma.  They  were  brought  to  Kumase  by  the 
commissioners,  and  pounded  to  death  in  a  mortar  in  revenge  of  the 
piince  and  others.**)  General  Adu  Sei  Kra  was  despatched  against 
Ata  with  an  army  of  10,000  men.  Ata,  advancing  from  Banso,  de- 
feated this  force  at  Amomani  and  a  second  time  at  Saman.  Adu 
Sei  Kra  fled  to  Adesawase  and  reported  his  defeat  to  Bonsu. 

Meanwhile  presents  of  what  Ata  had  plundered  from  the  traders 
and  Adu  Sei  Kra  were  forwarded  to  Kwaw  Safrotwe  of  Akropong,, 
who  forthwith  joined  Ata  in  his  revolt  against  the  king  of  Asante. 

*)  Some  suppose  that  it  was  Asamoa  Kwadwo  who  was  sent  by  the 
king  to  Ata. 

**)  Kwadwo's  mother  and  relations  were  not  killed  until  he  impru- 
dently killed  Yaw   Bese,  the  ambassador  of  the  king  sent  to  him. 

11 


162  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

General  Opoku  Fredefrede  now  crossed  the  Pra  and,  joined  by 
Kwak3''e  Yadeefe,  drove  Ata  back  toPantampa.  HereAta  and  Safrotwe 
united  their  forces,  awaiting  the  Asante  general.  After  a  fierce  and 
bloody  battle  Ata  and  his  ally  retreated  to  Akuapem.  Opoku  formed 
his  camp  at  Mam[)0ng  and  invited  the  Akras  to  join  him.  The  latter 
sent  him  a  detachment  under  Okai  Paemseeko  II.  They  also  sent 
messengers  under  Adshekoi  of  Christiansborg  to  Otutu  Osomboafo, 
the  king  of  Eastern  Krobo,  to  prepare  against  the  fugitives  from 
Akuapem. 

The  combined  army  ol'  Akem  and  Akuapem  was  newly  organized, 
the  Akuapem  force  was  divided  to  form  the  right  and  left  wings, 
the  main  force  was  under  Ata  himself.  A  desperate  battle  was 
fought  at  Mampong.  Opoku  became  so  fierce  that  the  Asantes  faced 
the  enemy  rather  than  himself.  The  Akuapems  retreated  from  their 
lines,  which  caused  such  loss  to  the  Akems,  that  precipitate  retreat 
was  the  only  available  means.  Kwaw  Safrotwe  and  Ata  witli  their 
forces  retreated  to  Aboh-aboii  at  the  foot  of  the  Berekuso  mountain. 
Kofi  Asante  was  sent  by  Ata  to  scout  the  Asanles,  who  luid  then 
removed  to  Aburi,  and  thence  through  Kyereme  to  Nsaki.  On  their 
arrival  there,  the  stream  ran  short,  which  gave  an  indication  that 
the  Asantes  were  close  by.  The  Akems  and  Akuapems  divided 
and  retreated,  the  former  in  the  direction  of  Fante,  the  latter  towards 
the  Volta.  Chief  Anim  Ampana  of  Adukrom  with  women  and 
children  of  Akuapem  went  to  Krobo,  being  related  to  the  Nyewe 
quarter  in  Yilg,  where  they  were  subjected  to  such  barbarous  slaughter, 
that  they  found  it  advisable  to  leave.  Kwaw  made  his  way  through 
Kpong  to  Ada,  and  was  harboured  in  an  island,  where  many  of 
the  royal  fat)iily  died  from  hardship  and  exhaustion.  Opoku,  having 
received  arms  and  ammunition  from  the  Akras,  formed  his  camj* 
at  Mukong  near  Dutch  Town,  and  then  resumed  his  march  in  pursuit 
of  Kwaw.  Several  men  found  in  the  villages  of  Labade  and  Teshi 
were  caught  b}'  the  Asantes  in  their  pursuit.  At  the  approach  of  the 
army  the  Adas  escaped  to  the  islands  of 'the  Volta.  Finding  Mr.  Flint, 
the  Danish  commandant  of  Ada  Fort,  the  general  accused  him  of 
having  connived  at  Kwaw's  escape,  and  took  him  prisoner.  He  was 
detained  five  months  in  the  Asante  camp  at  Berekuso,  but  was 
treated  with  kindness  and  respect  (others  say  the  contrary),  until 
ransomed  by  the  Danish  Government  against  payment  of  a  hundred 
ounces  of  gold. 

Under  the  escort  of  captain  Osramang  of  Ada,    Kwaw  Safrotwe 


Chapter  XII.  163 

escaped  across  the  Volta.  Opoku  left  Ada  and  marched  to  Krgbo, 
iinagiiiiny-  that  he  Iiad  tied  to  the  mountains.  As  chief  Anim  with 
his  people  alone  was  there,  they  instigated  the  Yilos  to  carry  on 
skirniislies  ayainst  the  Asantes.  Opoku  demanded  redress,  but  his 
messengers  were  beaten,  which  enraged  Otutu  Osomboafo  as  well 
as  the  general,  and  the  Yilos  were  attacked  as  far  as  up  to  Ogome. 
TheKrobos  united  and  forced  down  the  Asantes  with  great  slaui^hter. 
The  case  of  the  tight  was  investigated,  and  the  Krobos  were  found 
guilty.  The  Krobo  hostages,  Odonko  Otwesa  and  Tei  were  carried 
away  as  prisoners.  This  enraged  the  Krobos  to  revenge  themselves 
on  the  refugees,  by  setting  fire  to  the  houses  they  occupied  during 
the  night.  Opoku  was  then  ordered  by  the  king  to  return  at  once 
to  Kumase.  The  Labades  and  Teshis  caught  at  their  own  plantations 
tried  in  vain  to  be  made  free.  Okai  Paemseeko  had  to  accompany 
Opoku  to  Kumase.  On  his  return,  however,  he  set  those  prisoners 
iVee,  and  brought  them  to  their  homes. 

Vast  numbers  of  people  of  Akem  and  Akuapem  were  made  pris- 
oners or  slain,  or  perished  by  fatigue,  hunger  and  thirst  during 
the  pursuit  by  Opoku.  The  women  and  children  of  Abotakyi, 
harboured  at  Eburumaso,  were  detected  and  carried  off  by  the 
Asantes.  The  infirm  and  sick  committed  suicide,  babies  were  smashed 
to  death  by  knocking  their  heads  against  trees  to  prevent  their 
being  captured  by  the  enemy,  and  their  graves  were  either  a  foot 
deep  or  holes  of  the  same  depth  of  wild  yams.  Children  were  seen 
sitting  by  waysides,  having  been  deserted  by  their  parents.  Mothers 
would  carry  three  or  four  babies  in  a  wooden  trough  or  basket  for 
several  days,  and  when  tired  threw  them  all  into  the  bush.  Some- 
times a  mother  had  to  flee  carrying  on  her  back  her  new-born 
child!     Oh  the  horrors  of  war! 

Apea  Dankwa  with  an  army  of  6000  men  invaded  the  Fante 
country,  and  several  insignificant  skirmishes  took  place,  but  all 
ended  in  his  favour.  He  reached  the  coast  near  Winneba.  Here 
the  Fantes  of  Anomabo,  Adwumanko,  Apa,  Mumford,  Winneba 
and  Gomoa  Asen  had  formed  a  large  camp,  and  were  ready  to 
give  him  battle.  A  severe  conflict  took  place  near  Apa.  The  Fantes 
were  defeated,  and  many  were  taken  prisoners,  among  others  Bafo, 
the  chief  of  Anomabo.  Mr.  Smith,  the  commandant  of  Taiitum  Fort, 
tried  to  open  communication  with  Apea  Dankwa;  but  referring  to 
the  king's  orders  that  he  should  punish  the  Fantes  who  had  laid 
siege  to  Elmina,  he  did  not  admit  any  mediation. 

11* 


164  History  of  the   Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

Kwaw  Safrotwe  had  meanwhile  escaped  to  Fante.  Here  he  found 
Ata  and  his  forces,  consisting  only  of  three  thousand  followers. 
The  combined  army  hastened  to  meet  Apea  Dankwa,  whose  force 
had  been  weakened  b}-  the  late  action  near  Apa.  The  lirniness  of 
Apea  Dankwa  gave  way  when  he  heard  of  their  approach,  and  he 
ordered  a  retreat.  He  was  pursued  by  Ata  and  routed.  With  the 
remnant  of  his  force  Apea  fled  to  Asen. 

After  his  victory  over  the  Asantes,  Ata  was  attacked  by  small- 
pox which  had  broken  out  in  his  arm}',  and  fell  a  victim  to  the 
disease  at  Kwanyako  iu  October,  while  on  his  march  back  to  Akeni. 
He  was  one  of  the  bravest  kings  of  Akem,  and  might  have  saved 
his  country  and  people  from  the  Asante  yoke,  had  he  not  been  cut 
off  by  death  in  the  midst  of  his  daring  career.  After  his  death  Asare 
Bediako  succeeded  him  on  the  stool  of  Akem.  The  folio  wiug  chiefs 
committed  suicide  at  Kwanyako  when  Ata  had  died:  Kwabena 
Konku  of  Kukurantumi,  Kwantanan  Gyenin,  Kwaben  Odakwa  Woe, 
Sinno  Dako,  Apireman  Afum;  the  captains  over  the  Fanteakwa  or 
right  wing,  Siewufo  or  left  wing,  adontere  or  centre,  and  the  body- 
guard also  committed  suicide.  Princess  Yeboakua,  the  younger 
sister  of  Dokuwa,  was  given  as  hostage  to  0[)oku.  She  was  after- 
wards married  to  Bonsu  and  had  a  son  Owusu  Akem.  —  On  account 
of  those  grievous  bereavements,  Dokuwa  applied  to  herself  this 
saying:  '^Kotodwe  abo  dua,  eyaw  mpa  mu'"  i.e.  When  the  knee 
knocks  at  a  tree,  it  never  ceases  from  pain. 

The  two  generals  of  Asante,  ordered  by  the  king  to  take  revenge 
on  the  enemies  of  his  friends,  the  Elminas  and  Akras,  having  retired, 
th  e  country  was  relieved  from  external  war  for  a  short  time,  yet 
by  no  means  free  from  internal  dissensions  and  commotions. 

The  combined  forces  of  Akem  and  Akuapem  were  still  in  Fante. 
Kwaw  Safrotwe  instigated  Adoko  of  Fante  and  Asare  Bediako  of 
Akem  Abuakwa  to  march  with  him  against  the  Akras,  Adoko 
agreed  at  once,  Asare  was  with  difficulty  persuaded,  and  the  allies 
invaded  the  Akra  territory.  Their  camp  extended  from  the  lagoon 
Kole  to  Labade.  For  three  weeks  no  Akra  could  venture  to  leave 
the  town  for  provisions  or  firewood,  and  bitter  distress  began  to  be 
felt.  Old  bedsteads,  the  roofing  of  houses,  and  dried  leaves  were 
employed  to  cook  the  scanty  food  that  could  be  obtained. 

About  (hat  time  a  Portuguese  vessel  had  anchored  off  Akra.  The 
chiefs  applied  to  the  captain  for  arms  and  ammunition,  against 
payment   in  prisoners  whom  they  expected  to  obtain   by   the  war. 


Chapter  XII.  iGS 

The  captain,  haviiio- siipi)lied  the  invaders,  who  had  niade  the  garrie 
promise  and  were  more  numerous  than  they,  llatly  declined,  having 
no  faith  in  their  ability  to  supply  him  with  })risoners.  The  Akras 
were,  however,  very  active  in  their  preparations.  The  forces  from 
James  Town  to  Ningo  had  been  concentrated,  an(i  a  meeting  was 
held  one  night  at  Dodokwe,  to  arrange  matters.  A  young  man  is 
reported  then  to  have  stood  up  and  said,  "Brethren,  let  us  attack 
the  invaders  very  early  in  the  morning,  to  make  a  havock  in  their 
lines  before  the  break  of  the  day  permits  them  to  ascertain  the  small 
number  of  our  army",  —  to  which  they  all  agreed. 

Very  early  in  the  morning  of  that  memorable  Thursday,  the  in- 
vaders were  furiously  attacked,  and  routed.  They  were  pursued 
beyond  the  Sakumo,  in  which  many  were  drowned  or  devoured 
b,y  sharks.  Numerous  prisoners  were  taken,  so  that  the  Portu- 
guese slaver  was  freighted  within  a  few  days  after  the  battle. 

Many  Akems  were  killed  and  wounded,  and  the  royal  stool  was 
captured  by  the  enemy.  This  loss  deprived  Asare  Bediako  and 
his  ne[»hews  of  their  title  to  the  royal  dignity.  At  the  suggestion* 
of  Ills  people  Asare  killed  himself,  after  having  spent  a  week  in 
drinking,  dancing,  and  singing  in  anticipation  of  his  own  funeral. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Kofi  Asante.  Kwaw  escaped  with  great  loss 
to  Akuapem. 

The  day  before  the  attack,  the  labourers  of  the  Danish  Govern- 
ment were  surveying  a  piece  of  land,  and  happened  to  kill  an 
Akuapem-man  in  the  bush.  On  account  of  this  an  ambush  was 
laid,  and  when  the  forces  of  Christiansborg  were  marching  to  form 
their  line,  captain  Kwate  AnokovVia  and  his  brother  Kwatei  Asoasa, 
the  drummer,  were  shot  and  killed;  Naku,  the  brother  of  Dowuona, 
was  wounded,  and  died  after  a  few  days  at  home.  Kwaku  Saw, 
the  brother  of  Safrotvve,  who  had  made  a  vow,  never  to  shave  his 
hair  until  he  had  captured  a  man  from  Teshi,  was  eventually  taken 
prisoner  by  the  same  people.  On  the  day  of  his  execution  at  Teshi, 
he  sang:  "I  had  slain  a  leopard's  child,  and  shall  be  killed  and 
devoured  by  hyenas!" 

When  the  intelligence  of  that  second  invasion  of  Akra  reached 
Kumase,  the  king  sent  large  presents  and  his  sympathy  to  the  Akras, 
which  will  be  mentioned  in  the  XIII  chapter. 

Dokuwa  having  reached  Kyebi,  she  thanked  Kwadwo  Kuma  for 
the  valuable  services  he  had  rendered  to  Ata,  and  thereupon  liqui- 
dated the  debt  of  5  j)eredwans    she  had  once  advanced  him.    She 


166  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

gave  him  3  peredwans,  40  gnns  and  3^/^  kegs  of  powder,  and  ad- 
vised him  to  go  and  claim  the  stool  of  Kotoku  from  Kwiikye,  as 
he  was  the  right  heir  to  it.  She  also  appointed  Obrokwa,  chief  of 
Otnmi,  to  assist  Kwadvvo  Kuma  in  claiming  the  stool.  Hosompim, 
cliief  of  Asene,  and  Ntronan  Broni  joined  him;  they  gave  battle  to 
Kwakye  at  Dampong,  and  he  fled  with  the  stool  to  Kumase.  Linguist 
Knsi  and  Akyikyia  were  sent  by  Kwadwo  Kuma  to  Sewa  of  Dwaben 
to  intercede  for  him,  that  Osei  Bonsu  might  force  Kwakj'e  to  deliver 
te  stool  back.*)  The  king  despatched  Yaw  Hese,  Kuako  and  Odunkyi, 
Sewa  also  appointed  Adu  Sosoronkuo,  to  tell  Kwadwo  Kuma  that 
he  would  obtain  the  stool,  if  he  came  to  Kumase  and  swore  the 
fetish  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  king.  He  agreed  to  do  so  after 
three  3^ears,  at  which  time  he  would  be  sufficiently  prepared  to  appear 
in  the  capital.  Kwakye  died  30  days  afterwards,  and  his  successor 
Kofi  Duodu  and  a  few  of  his  people  were  accompanied  by  Akwasi 
Duro  and  Koso  to  iVmpaw  of  (Jmanso  to  stay  there.  Agyemang, 
nephew  of  Kwakye,  was  kept  at  Kumase  by  the  king. 

Kwadwo  Kuma  had  meanwhile  sounded  the  mindsof  Akwadamma, 
Bawua  and  Odofoo,  principal  men  in  the  king's  household,  as  to 
whether  it  would  be  safe  for  him  to  come  up  or  not,  and  being- 
advised  never  to  venture  it,  w^as  actively  preparing  to  quit  the 
countr3^  When  the  time  appointed  for  his  visit  came  on,  the 
messengers  were  sent  for  him.  Adii  Sosoronkuo  and  Nuako  escaped, 
but  the  rest  he  killed,  besides  many  Asante  residents  in  Dampong, 
who  had  been  enticed  to  go  there  by  the  reduction  of  the  prices 
of  provisions  and  venison.  The  Asantes  used  to  tell  their  friends, 
"Provisions  and  venison  have  become  too  cheap  at  Dampong,  we 
should  go  there  to  live  on  rich  diet." 

The  following  chiefs  deserted  from  Kwadwo  Kuma  to  Adanse, 
when  the  king's  messengers  were  killed:  Akokoaso  Pobi,  Kwa  of 
Boritodiase  and  Kuku  Asa  of  Adwafo;  but  Amoako  Panyin  left  for 
Agogo.  The  \0Ya\  chiefs  and  captains  were  Ntronan  Broni,  Asene 
Bosompim,  Gyadam  Kyei,  Mooso  Nti,  Aberem  Ankama,  Odgmara 
of  Bogyeseanwo,  Domanten  Nabra  Kunan,  Adasawase  Kwtame  Tia, 
Mampon  Sav^^,  Atoso  Kusi,  Kyekyewere  Kore,  Basa  Oteredu,  Fobonto, 
captain  over  the  right  wing,  Pira  Kwamc,  over  the  left  wing,  Oteredu 

*)  Some  say,  the  principal  ambassador  sent  by  KwadvVo  Kuma  was 
Boa  Otu,  who  met  Kwadwo's  mother  and  relations  alive  at  Kumase.  The 
king  was  willing  to  deliver  them  back  to  Boa  Otu,  had  not  Kwadwo 
imprudently  killed  Yaw  Bese,   the  king's  ambassador. 


Chapter  XII.  167 

over  the  body-guard,  and  the  linguists  were  Adu  Kokgo  and  Anio- 
ako  Panyin. 

With  these  KwadvVo  Kuma  shut  up  the  Asantes  in  their  country 
for  the  space  of  two  years,  that  the  king's  messengers  with  those 
presents  for  the  chiefs  of  Akra  were  obliged  to  travel  through  A- 
kwamu,  as  ah-eady  mentioned. 

The  king  of  Asante  made  a  great  ellbrt  to  crush  the  Akems  and 
Akuapenis,  who  had  continued  in  a  state  of  revolt  since  1811.  With 
this  view  he  collected  an  army  of  20000  men,  whom  he  placed 
under  Amankwa.  He  was  fully  determined  to  throw  open  the 
path,  to  renew  his  communication  with  Akra,  and  to  draw  from 
thence  the  stipend  of  the  Danish  Government,  which  had  remained 
unpaid  since  the  last  invasion.  Amankwa  was  also  charged  to  receive 
the  submission  of  Kwadwo  Kuma  and  Kwaw  Safrotwe,  wiio,  it  was 
supposed,  would  sue  for  peace  on  the  approach  of  such  an  over- 
whelming force. 

But  to  provide  against  their  escape,  Apea  Dankwa  was  sent  at 
the  same  time  with  a  smaller  force  in  the  direction  of  VVinneba, 
to  cut  them  oil"  on  that  side.  Amankwa  moved  towards  Akuapem 
with  his  army.  When  within  a  day's  march  of  that  place,  one  of 
his  foraging  parties,  consisting  of  seven  persons,  was  cut  off  by 
Kwadwo  Kuma.  He  gave  battle  to  the  whole  Asante  force  on  the 
day  following,  at  Adweso.  The  battle  lasted  six  hours,  and  ended 
in  the  defeat  of  the  Akems  and  their  allies.  Amankwa  proclaimed 
his  victory  to  the  Akras  by  sending  a  jaw-bone  and  a  slave  to  each 
of  the  towns,  and  soon  after  followed  with  his  army,  and  received 
the  stipend  from  the  Danish  Government.  Kwadwo  Kuma  and 
Kwaw  Safrotwe  with  their  forces  had  again  to  flee  to  Fante  for 
protection.  Amankwa  therefore  encamped  at  Onyase,  8  miles  north- 
east of  Akra,  for  nearly  a  year,  to  receive  the  submission  of  the 
Akems  and  Akuapems.  Berekuso  was  the  town  which  first  sub- 
mitted; but  the  other  Akuapems  were  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Obutu,  and  used  to  send  foraging  parties,  among  whom  were  Akrong 
Kwasi  and  Kwaku  Fito  of  Aburi,  to  commit  pillage  and  plunder  on 
the  Akras,  Asantes,  and  even  the  Berekusos. 

Meanwhile  the  party  under  Apea  Dankwa  had  encountered  the 
Fantes  on  several  occasions.  The  AdvVumanko  and  Agona  people 
were  defeated  with  great  loss,  the  towns  of  Winneba  and  Bereku 
were  plundered  and  burnt,  and  the  Fantes  were  subjected  to  the 
most  cruel  impositions. 


168  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

Apea  Dankwa  died  in  Asen,  and  was  succeeded  as  commander 
of  the  armj'  by  Apea  Yanyo.  Amankwa  was  ordered  to  unite  his 
forces  with  him  in  the  Fante  country.  Opuro  Tuata,  Opuro  Kwabena, 
and  Kofi  Mensa  of  Berekuso,  and  a  party  from  Akra  were  commis- 
sioned to  accompany  the  general  and  his  forces  to  Fante.  They 
met  with  Yanyo  and  his  forces  at  Asikuma  and  marched  together 
through  Adwumanko,  driving  the  Fantes  before  them.  A  large  body 
of  these  had  encamped  at  Abora,  but  fled  at  the  first  onset.  Crowds 
of  people  fled  to  the  forts  for  protection.  Upwards  of  four  thousand 
men,  women  and  children  are  said  to  have  fled  for  protection  to 
Cape  Coast  Castle.  The  governor  sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  the  Asante 
general,  to  know  his  intentions,  but  meanwhile  the  Asautes  ap- 
proached nearer  and  nearer  to  the  Castle.  On  the  16*^''  of  March 
messengers  arrived  from  the  camp  at  Abora,  and  explained  that 
the  king's  army  had  come  to  Fante  in  pursuit  of  Kwadwo  Kuma,  of 
Kotoku,  Kwaw  Safrotwe,  and  Kofi  Asante  of  Akem  Abuakwa,  and 
to  punish  all  who  harboured  them.  The  general  accused  Kwaw 
Agyiri,  Opentri  and  Amisa,  three  Fante  chiefs,  of  having  stood  in 
arms  against  the  Asantes  for  the  defence  of  these  men.  A  meeting 
was  held  in  the  hall  of  the  Castle  on  the  21^*,  at  which  it  was 
proved  that  Kwadwo  Kuma,  Kwaw  Safrotwe  and  Kofi  Asante  were 
not  in  Cape  Coast,  and  the  headmen  of  Cape  Coast  took  fetish  oath 
to  that  effect.  However,  it  was  arranged  that  one  hundred  ounces 
of  gold  must  be  paid  by  the  Cape  Coast  people  and  the  Fantes,  to 
purchase  peace  with  the  Asantes.  This  was  done,  and  their  friend- 
ship cemented  with  a  fetish  oath.  Soon  afterwards  the  Asantes 
broke  up  their  camp  at  Abora,  because  they  had  now  conquered 
the  whole  Fante  countrj^,  and  went  in  the  direction  of  Akra  in 
search  of  the  proscribed  men.  Kwadwo  Kuma,  hotlj^  pursued  by 
the  Asantes,  put  a  period  to  his  own  life  atNkum  near  Asikuma, 
being  unable  to  escape  from  the  party  of  Apea  Yanyo's  force,  who 
surrounded  him  there. 

There  are  divers  opinions  about  Kwadwo  Kuma's  death.  Some 
say,  upon  seeing  that  the  Fantes  were  tired,  he  fled  from  the 
country  with  a  single  wife.  Notice  was  given  to  the  effect  that 
whoever  could  bring  him  alive  or  dead,  should  be  rewarded  with 
^  18.  A  hunter,  being  fortunate  in  flnding  him  roaming  in  the 
bush  with  his  wife,  killed  him  and  brought  his  body  to  town,  where 
it  was  delivered  to  the  generals.  The  true  account  seems  to  be 
this:  Kwadwo  Kuma,  having  found  that  the  Fantes  could  not  protect 


Chapter  XI  I.  169 

iiirn,  fled  from  the  country  with  (ryadatn  Kyei  and  Amoako  Hene, 
with  the  view  of  returning-  to  his  capital  Dainpong-.  Osaka,  the 
mother  of  Aduanan  Apea,  with  her  daughter  Badua,  liaving  been 
taken  prisoners  by  the  Asantes,  A  pea  and  Kwamena  Asanianin  de- 
spatched eight  messengers  after  Kwadwo  Knma,  who  was  overtaken 
by  them  at  Nkwantanan,  and  was  expressly  told  to  return,  as  the 
Asantes  had  fled  from  the  Fante  country.  They  brought  him  back, 
and  delivered  him  up  to  the  generals  at  Nkum,  while  (jsaka  and 
Badua  were  released.  Both  Kwadwo  Kuma  and  Amoako  Hene 
were  beheaded,  smoked  and  brought  to  Kumasi^  with  Gyadam 
Kyei  alive. 

All  the  chiefs  and  captains  of  Dampong,  who  Ibught  under  Kwadwo 
Kun)a,  asked  Kwasi  Amankwa  of  Asikuma  to  intercede  for  them, 
after  the  general  iiad  gone  to  Kumase.  Kwasi  Amankwa  commis- 
sioned captain  Bircdu  to  settle  the  case  for  them.  The  king  appointed 
Odunkyi  and  Nuako  to  accompany  Biredu  to  Dam|)Ong,  ami  after 
a  tine  of  300  peredwans  had  been  [)aid,  all  tlie  chiefs  were  beheaded, 
and  Amoako  Panyiii,  who  deserted  Kwadwo  Kuma  to  Agogo,  was 
ordered  to  govern  the  Kotokus.  Afirifa  Akwada,  cousin  of  Kwadwo 
Kuma,  but  the  son  of  Amoako,  and  his  mother  Buadiwa  and  sister 
Korania  would  have  been  killed,  had  not  Amoako  paid  3  peredwans 
to  save  their  lives.  After  which  he  made  them  take  a  fetish  oath 
to  the  effect  that  they  must  allow  him  to  rule  in  peace,  as  long  as 
he  was  alive. 

Meanwhile  Kwaw  Safrotwe,  the  roaming  fugitive,  the  chief  disturber 
of  public  peace,  whom  no  one  could  lay  hand  upon,  had  made  his 
own  subjects  tired  of  him;  the  Agonas  also  were  tired.  The  Akua- 
pems  thereupon  opened  a  communication  with  the  chiel's  of  Akra 
by  Ado  Dankwa,  entreating  to  negotiate  for  peace  on  their  behalf. 
Fees  demanded  and  paid  to  the  Akras,  l)cforc  they  opened  a  com- 
munication witli  the  Asantes,  were  a  puncheon  of  rum  and  50  slaves. 
The  general  accepted  the  negotiation  for  peace  on  condition  that 
1500  heads  of  cowries  and  200  slaves  must  be  paid,  and  Kwaw  and 
all  the  chiefs  who  fought  against  the  king  should  be  delivered  up. 
Kwaw  had  meanwhile  left  the  Fante  country  for  Akuapem,  and 
concealed  himself  in  his  own  village  at  Amam[)robi. 

Ado  Dankwa,  whom  tiie  general  had  promised  to  make  chief  of  A- 
kuapem  if  he  could  deliver  up  Kwaw,  conducted  a  party  of  Akras 
and  Asantes  to  his  hiding-place  at  Amamprobi.  He  placed  an  ambush 
around  him,  and  then  entered  into  conversation  with  him.  He  advised 


170  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

him  to  kill  himself,  as  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  escape  from  the 
Asaiites'  vigilance;  but  Kwaw  refused,  alleging-  that  he  would  wear 
out  the  king's  patience.  Upon  this  Ado  Daiikwa  left  him,  which 
was  the  preconcerted  signal  for  the  party  in  ambush,  who  fired 
and  killed  him.  His  body  was  conveyed  to  Akra,  smoked  and 
sent  to  Kumase.  His  two  brothers  Opoku  and  Amankwa  shared  the 
same  fate. 

Chief  Anim  Ampana  of  Adukrom  was  brought  to  Christiansborg 
and  beheaded.  All  the  chiefs  of  Fante,  Akem  and  Akuapem  came 
to  Akra,  begging  to  intercede  for  them.  They  acknowledged  their 
being  tributaries  to  Asante,  and  an  annual  tribute  was  fixed  lor 
each  of  them.  For  upwards  of  one  year  Amankwa  encamped  at 
Onyase,  8  miles  from  Akra,  and  brought  about  a  full  and  lasting 
peace  in  the  country.  Thus  by  means  of  that  peace  the  Akras  ob- 
tained liberty  to  reoccupy  their  own  lands  and  villages  unmolested 
by  their  enemies  for  12  3^ears,  till  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy  induced 
them  to  break  off  their  friendship  with  Asante. 

The  object  of  the  expedition  was  now  obtained,  the  heads  of 
Kwadwo  Kuma,  Kwaw  Safrotwe  and  Kofi  Asante  were  now  in 
the  king's  possession.  Amankwa,  therefore,  returned  to  Kumase, 
having  thus  reduced  Akem  and  Akuapem  to  a  state  of  vassalage 
and  established  the  king's  authority  throughout  Fante.  Asante  resi- 
dents were  left  behind  in  charge  of  the  principal  districts,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  keep  the  Fantes  in  subjection,  and  to  collect  the 
king's  tribute.  In  the  execution  of  this  duty,  they  exercised  great 
tyranny,  and  seldom  were  at  a  loss  for  an  excuse  of  their  exactions. 
The  mere  suspicion  of  disaffection  was  sufficient  to  draw  upon  any 
chief  or  headman  the  infliction  of  heavy  fines.  The  same  tyranny 
and  infliction  of  heavy  fnies  were  experienced  by  the  Akras  during 
general  Amankwa's  encampment  at  Onyase,  and  several  of  them 
became  slaves  and  pawns.  And  for  that  account,  the  Akras,  after 
due  consideration,  accepted  the  proposals  of  Sir  Charles  to  declare 
against  Asante. 


Chapter  Xlll.  171 


CHAPTER  XIlI. 

The  deplorable  state  of  the  country  in  consequence  of  the  invasions  by 
and  the  tyrannical  rule  of  the  Asantes. —  The  deputation  composed  of 
Mr.  James,  Governor  of  Akra,  and  Messieurs  Bowdich,  Hutchison  and 
Tedlie  with  a  present  to  the  king  of  Asante.—  The  king  of  Asante 
commenced  war  with  Giyaman.  The  insult  given  to  Asante  residents 
in  Fante. —  Mr.  Dnpuis  as  Consul  to  Asante  —  The  former  friendship 
which  existed   between   the  Akras  and   Asantes. —  1817  — 1823. 

From  1807  to  1823  the  Asantes  were  lords  of  all  the  country 
between  their  kingdom  and  the  coast,  and  ground  dow^n  the  people 
with  the  most  barbarous  tyranny.  Those  Asante  chiefs  and  head- 
men residing-  in  the  principal  towns  exercised  more  authority  over 
the  people  than  the  king  himself  at  Kuniase:  Merchants,  mechanics, 
clerks,  canocmen,  the  poor,  the  rich,  high  and  low,  all  were  sub- 
jected to  a  rigid  system  of  cruel  extortion  on  every  possible  occasion, 
and  oiten  on  pretences  altogether  ludicrous  and  unheard  of.  Several 
persons  were  deprived  of  their  handsome  wives.  If  one  mentioned 
the  king's  name,  he  was  fined.  If  one  had  any  words  with  an 
Asante,  if  one  accidentally  or  inadvertently  touched  or  even  alluded 
to  an  Asante,  he  was  punished.  In  Fante  as  well  as  in  Akra,  the 
interior  not  excepted,  several  chiefs  were  made  to  pay  enormous 
fines  under  various  pretexts.  The  European  governments  only  occa- 
sionally interfered  by  very  gentle  and  not  always  sincere  protests. 
Most  of  the  best  kings  and  chiefs  as  well  as  the  greater  part  of  the 
population  had  been  annihilated  or  brought  over  to  Asante  as  captives 
for  life.  Many  a  populous  and  large  town  lay  in  ruins,  and  poverty 
prevailed  everywhere,  chiefly  in  the  interior  countries.  The  English, 
Danish,  and  Dutch  governments  beg-an  to  feel  for  those  they  pre- 
tended to  protect,  and  endeavoured  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
those  kings,  chiefs  and  people  who  had  sought  protection  at  their 
hands.  From  time  to  time  they  despatched  embassies  with  large 
and  valuable  presents  to  Kumase  by  way  of  befriending  the  king 
and  to  encourage  legitimate  trade,  that  the  Protectorate  might  enjoy 
peace.  The  Danish  and  Dutch  governments  even  allowed  the  king 
a  monthly  stipend. 

In  1817  presents  were  sent  by  the  African  company  in  England 
to  the  king  of  Asante.  The  embassy  was  composed  of  Mr.  James, 
governor  of  British  Akra  (who  after  a  short  time  was  recalled), 
Messieurs  Bowdich,  Hutchison,  and  Tedlie.   Hospitality  was  shown 


172  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and   Asaiite. 

them  ill  every  way,  but  when  they  came  to  business,  matters  did 
not  run  smoothly. 

The  king  produced  Notes  or  leases  which  he  had  captured  from 
the  Fantes,  and  claimed  that  pa3''ment  on  account  of  them  should 
be  made  to  him  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Dutch  paid  him  rent 
for  Elmina,  due  on  the  document  which  he  had  taken  from  Dankera. 
This  was  contested  on  various  grounds,  but  at  last  the  Notes  were 
made  over  to  him  (Osei  Tutu  Kwamena  or  Bonsu),  and  the  sub- 
jection of  tiie  Fantes  to  him  was  thus  acknowledged.  Other  difti- 
culties  were  raised,  but  reparation  was  made  for  insults  offered  at 
Komenda  and  Amisa  by  large  payments,  and  the  Treaty  of  Peace 
and  Amitj'  was  at  last  signed  and  scaled  (by  the  kings  of  Asante 
and  Dwaben  and  Mr.  Bowdich)  on  the  7"»  September  1817.  The  Fante 
tribes  were  by  it  reduced  to  the  condition  of  tributaries  to  Asante, 
but  a  kind  of  British  Protectorate  was  admitted. 

The  fourth  and  the  eighth  articles  of  the  treaty  i-an   thus: 

*Tn  order  to  avert  the  horrors  of  war,  it  is  agreed  that  in  any 
case  of  aggression  on  the  part  of  the  natives  under  British  pro- 
tection, the  kings  shall  complain  thereof  to  the  governor-in-chief 
to  obtain  redress,  and  tJiat  they  will  in  no  instance  resort  lo  hostil- 
ities, even  against  the  other  towns  of  tiie  Fante  territory,  without 
endeavouring  as  much  as  possible  to  elFecl  an  amicable  arrangement, 
affording  the  governor  an  opportunity  of  [»ropitiating  it  as  far  as 
he  may  with  discretion." 

"The  governor-in-chief  reserves  to  himself  the  right  of  punishing 
any  subject  of  Asante  or  Dwaben  guilty  of  secondary  offences;  but 
in  case  of  any  crime  of  magnitude,  he  will  send  the  offender  to  the 
king,  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  of  his  country."' 

The  mission  withdrew,  Mr. Hutchison  remaining  as  resident  for 
some  months,  and  it  is  to  this  mission  that  we  are  indebted  for 
the   excellent  work    of  Mr.  Bowdich. — 

Almost  all  the  monarchs  of  Asante  had  to  carry  on  war  against 
Gyaman,  since  the  first  war  with  them  in  the  reign  of  Osei  Tutu, 
either  to  suppress  rebellion  or  to  enforce  tribute.  The  liasty  recall 
of  general  Opoku  from  the  siege  of  Krobo  in  1811  was  on  account 
of  the  king  mustering  an  army  to  march  against  therii. 

Adinkra,  the  then  king  of  Gyaman,  had  made  a  gold-stool  similar 
to  that  in  Kumase,  and  being  a  tributary  king  to  Osei  Bonsu,  it 
was  considered  not  becoming  his  position.  The  king  thereupon 
commissioned  the  renowned  linguist  Kvvame  Butuakwa  to  Bontuku 


Chapter  XIII.  173 

to  claim  the  stool  for  him.  Adinkra  quietly  jiekled  to  tlie  king's 
deiriand  and  sent  tlie  stool  to  Kuniase.  Not  very  long  after  this, 
GyaniarantVvi,  one  of  Adinkras  drummers,  had  illegal  intercourse 
with  one  of  his  wives,  and  then  escaped  to  Kumase.  The  criminal 
was  sent  back  to  Adinkra  by  the  king,  to  be  dealt  with  as  he  might 
think  fit.  The  king  not  killing  the  criminal  made  Adinkra  suspi- 
cious, as  to  whether  by  punishing  him  with  death  the  king  might 
be  olfended,  hence  he  set  him  free.  He,  being  acquitted,  there  and 
then  insulted  the  Asante  messengers  in  the  presence  of  the  assem- 
bly, but  none  checked  the  criminal. 

One  of  his  ladies,  Nyankura,  a  princess  of  Kong,  was  displeased 
at  Adinkra's  cowardice  in  giving  up  his  gold-stool.  She  would 
prefer  a  man  with  courage  to  a  poltroon  as  he  was.  Finding  it  too 
late  to  recall  tlic  stool,  Adinkra  indemnified  himself  by  sending 
insolent  messages  to  the  king  and  throwing  Asante  residents  into 
the  gold  mines.  The  king  of  Asante  warned  Adinkra,  but  he 
persisted  in  iiis  perversity,  and  provoked  the  king  at  last  to  invade 
Bontuku  witli  an  army. 

Adinkra  inquired  an  oracle  through  a  Mohammedan  priest  called 
Adumamu.  By  his  direction  the  commissioners  bought  two  rams, 
jiamed  one  of  them  Adinkra,  the  other,  Osei,  and  let  them  light; 
the  one  named  Adinkra  was  beaten.  Knowing  now  what  would 
be  the  result  of  the  impending  invasion,  Adinkra  spent  a  whole 
week  in  drinking,  dancing,  and  singing,  in  anticipation  of  his  own 
funeral.  After  which  he  sent  commissioners  to  inform  the  priest 
what  had  happened,  and  to  ask  him  for  some  war  medicine  against 
the  king  of  Asante.  The  medicine  was  brought  and  buried  in  the 
main  road  to  Bontuku.  At  the  same  time  the  Mohammedan  king 
of  Kong  was  asked  to  assist  Adinkra  with  an  army.  The  king  of 
Asante,  being  informed  by  his  priests  that  that  spot  had  been  poisoned 
by  their  enemies,  was  advised,  on  reaching  the  spot,  to  take  another 
road.  The  army  from  Kong  not  having  arrived,  Adinkra  was  obliged 
to  send  two  ambassadors  to  sue  for  peace.  On  the  bank  of  the 
river  Tain  the  ambassadors  met  the  king,  but  he  rejected  their 
entreaties. 

Adinkra  was  defeated  and  slain.  His  son.  Prince  Apaw,  cut  his 
father's  head,  and  cutting  open  the  belly  of  a  woman  with  child, 
put  it  inside  and  sewed  it  up.  The  battle  raged  for  several  days. 
Apaw  was  taken  prisoner  and  brought  before  Osei  Bonsu,  who 
by  promises   and  kind  treatment  induced  him  to  assist   in    finding 


174  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  aud  Asaute. 

tlio  body  and  head  of  his  father.  The  Asautes  then  sowed  the  dead 
kinj^'s  head  on  his  body,  dressed  and  seated  him,  ;ind  heUi  a  court 
in  which  the  king  brought  his  charges  against  Adinkra.  The  ciders 
went  into  a  consultation  and  brought  a  verdict  of  guilty.  Adinkra  was 
then,  according  to  the  Asantc  custom,  beheaded  by  the  executioner. 
Immense  treasures  and  numerous  prisoners  were  carried  off  to 
Asante.  The  Kong  army  arrived  after  Adinkra  had  been  slain,  and 
returned  home  with  the  Princess. 

It  was  during  this  war  that  Kwadwo  Tibo,  king  of  Dankera,  dis- 
played such  dashing  braver^'',  that  the  king  in  astonishment  exclaimed, 
*'Kwadwo,  if  you  fight  so  bravely  for  your  master,  how  would  you 
fight  in  your  own  defence?"  Really  Kwadwo  Tibo  was  the  African 
General  Forwards. 

Among  the  prisoners  was  Soke  Nl  Agyei,  the  second  in  command 
of  the  Gyamans,  who  was  caught  by  king  Boaten  of  DvVaben. 
Adumamu  was  also  caught  by  Opoku  Fredefrede.  After  aftirming 
by  solemn  oath  and  written  treaty  that  he  and  his  })eople  would 
never  be  hostile  to  Asante,  he  was  set  free.  Princess  Tamia,  sister 
of  Adinkra,  was  brought  to  Kumase  and  married  to  Sampane.  She 
had  a  daughter,  Ampomahwence,  and  a  son,  Agyei  Bonne  Adu. 
Osei  Kwadwo  married  the  former,  and  Owusu  Taseamandi,  who 
escaped  to  Cape  Coast  in  1881,  was  born.  A  paw  tried  to  escape 
and  was  killed,  but  Tamia  was  liberated  by  Kwaku  Dua  and  sent 
back  to  Gyaman. 

All  the  tributary  kings  of  Akem  Abuakwa  and  Kotoku,  Akwamu, 
and  Akuapem  had  either  joined  in  person  or  appointed  their  re- 
presentatives with  their  respective  forces  in  this  war;  only  the 
Fantes  kept  aloof.  Encouraged  by  rumours  of  disasters  said  to 
have  befallen  the  invading  army,  they  grew  insolent  and  began  to 
insult  and  beat  the  Asante  residents,  and  among  these  one  Koso 
(Osono),  a  court-crier  of  the  king,  whose  gold  cap,  the  sign  of  his 
office,  was  lost  in  an  affrey  [at  Komane  or  Commenda].  Reports  of  this 
were  brought  to  the  king  in  camp,  and  on  the  strength  of  the  treat_y 
he  applied  to  the  governor  for  redress.  The  governor  refused. 
Other  messengers  came,  whonj  the  governor  received  with  great 
indignation,  presenting  them  with  a  ball-cartridge,  in  token  that 
he  was  ready  for  war.  The  king  received  the  message,  and  his 
nobles  at  once  demanded  to  be  led  to  the  coast.  But  he  could  not 
reconcile  the  conduct  of  the  governor  with  British  good  faith,  and 
believed  that  there  must  be  some  mistake,    and  that  the  governor 


Chapter  XIII.  175 

had  been  imposed  upon.  As  the  treaty  had  stipulated  that  iu  tlie 
event  of  any  aggression  on  the  part  of  the  protected  tribes  he  was 
to  seek  redress  through  the  governor,  so  he  had  done,  and  had  no 
intention  of  giving  otfence. 

Tlie  liing,  therefore,  despatched  Owusu  Dome,  a  messenger  of 
high  rank,  witli  a  numerous  retinue.  A  little  previous  to  this  date 
the  British  Government  had  sent  out  Mr.  Dupuis  as  consul  to  Asante, 
and  lie  was  waiting  at  Cape  Coast  to  proceed  to  Kuniase,  when 
Owusu  Dome  arrived. 

The  governor  was  extremely  jealous  of  Mr.  Dupuis'  appointment, 
and  seems  to  have  been  determined  to  thwart  him.  Wlien  the  am- 
l)assador  ap[»eared  in  the  conncil  chamber  at  Cape  Coast,  he  begged 
that  the  treaty  might  be  read  aloud,  and  laid  chiefly  hold  upon  the 
fourth  article  (already  given)  and  the  seventh,  which  provides  that 
"the  governors  of  the  respective  forts  shall  at  all  times  afford  every 
protection  in  tiieir  [lower  to  the  persons  and  property  of  the  people 
of  Asante  who  may  resort  to  the  water  side."  The  envoy  then, 
with  much  dignity,  said,  that  redress  must  at  once  be  given,  or  the 
king  would  appeal  to  arms. 

The  en\oy  was  then  infoi'med  of  Mr.  Dupuis'  presence,  and  of 
the  nature  of  his  appointment.  At  the  close  of  his  address  he  had 
tendered  to  the  governor  the  parchment  on  which  the  treaty  was 
written.  He  now,  at  Mr.  Dupuis"  intercession,  consented  to  retain 
it  till  he  received  fresh  instructions  from  the  king. 

A  fresh  ambassador  was  then  sent  down,  a  relative  of  the  king. 
He  abated  nothing  of  his  demands,  but  insisted  on  a  payment  of 
11)00  ounces  of  gold  from  the  inhabitants  of  Cape  Coast,  and  a  like 
sum  from  the  British  governor. 

Upon  this  Mr.  Dupuis  went  to  Kumase.  He  was  well  received 
by  the  king,  who  seemed  willing  to  adjust  the  differences  without 
proceeding  to  war.  A  new  treaty  was  drawn  up,  recognizing  the 
king  of  Asante's  sovereignty  over  Fante,  and  stipulating  that  the 
natives  under  British  protection  should  be  answerable  only  to  the 
fjovernor  for  their  acts.  The  king  withdrew  his  demand  for  1600 
ounces  from  the  governor,  but  insisted  on  the  fine  to  be  paid  by 
the  Cape  Coast  people.  He  also  consented  to  receive  missionaries 
to  preach  the  Christian  religion. 

When  Mr.  Dupuis  returned  to  the  coast,  the  king  also  sent  am- 
bassadors, whom  he  wished  to  proceed  to  England  with  presents 
to  the  Prince  Reerent.     The  governor,   however,  refused    to    ratify 


176  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

the  treat}',  or  to  assist  in  obtaining  for  the  ambassadors  a  passage 
to  England.  Tlie  policy  of  these  acts  is  justly  designat^ed  by 
Mr.  Cruickshank  as  short-sighted  and  perfidious.  In  spite  of  the 
disavowal  of  the  treaty,  the  refusal  to  satisfy  the  king's  demands 
on  Cape  Coast,  and  the  contumacious  rejection  of  his  ambassadors, 
Osei  Bonsu  still  refrained  from  war.  Mr.  Dupuis  sent  him  word 
that  he  would  lay  the  matter  before  the  Home  Government.  When 
several  months  had  passed  without  reply  or  redress,  Prince  Adum, 
the  ambassador,  was  ordered  to  retire  from  Cape  Coast  and  to 
stop  the  trade.  He  established  his  head-quarters  at  Manso,  and 
exercised  authority  over  the  protected  tribes.  Trade  was  entirely 
stopped,  and  the  whole  territory  was  a  scene  of  lawless  violence. 
In  consequence  of  this,  an  act  was  passed  through  the  English 
Parliament  (in  1821),  abolishing  the  African  Company  and  trans- 
ferring the  forts  and  settlements  to  the  crown.  — 

The  alliance  between  Asante  and  Akra  was  made  during  the 
reign  of  king  Tete  Ahene  Akwa  about  the  year  1740,  when  Opoku 
Ware  was  the  king  of  Asante.  The  following  statements  refer  to 
that  alliance  or  friendship. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Asantes  never  took  up  arms 
against  the  Akras  and  vice  versa,  while  several  other  nations  were 
attacked  and  conquered  by  the  Asantes. 

There  are  several  traditions  which  say,  the  Akras  were  brothers 
to  the  Asantes,  hence  none  of  them  has  ever  imbrued  his  hands 
in  his  brother's  blood.  To  prove  the  particular  nature  of  such  a 
brotherhood  is  now  beyond  every  traditional  research.  Naturally, 
the  two  nations  could  never  be  of  one  and  the  same  family,  as  the 
Akras  are  distinguished  from  the  Asantes  by  the  practise  of  cir- 
cumcision and  speak  a  different  language.  The  following  traditions 
and  accounts  might,  however,  throw  some  light  on  the  subject. 

1.  The  first  tradition  is  already  given  in   chapter  I. 

2.  Tradition  says  that  two  daughters  of  one  of  the  chiefs  of  Elmina 
were  married  one  to  a  prince  of  Kumase,  the  other  to  a  prince  of 
Akra.  Their  descendants  obtained  respectively  the  royal  stools  of 
Asante  and  Akra,  hence  they  kept  up  that  relationship. 

3.  An  ancient  league  may  have  existed  between  the  two  nations 
prior  to  the  destruction  and  expulsion  of  the  Akwamus,  and  that 
league  was  faithfully  observed  by  them. 

4.  The  king   of  Dutch  Akra,    the  supreme  chief  of  all  the  Akras, 


Chapter  XIII.  177 

being  a  Dutch  subject,  and  the  king  of  Asantc  a  Dutch  ally,  both 
served  under  one  flag,  hence  the  friendship. 

5.  The  Akras  were  at  all  times  peaceful  trading  people,  not  eager 
for  war  or  extension  of  their  power.  Consequently  they  never 
provoked  other  people  to  war,  and  were  inoffensive  to  the  Asantes. 

6.  It  may  have  been  the  policy  of  the  Asantes,  to  keep  peace 
with  one  tribe  till  they  had  subdued  the  other.  ''Divide  et  impera." 
If  such  was  the  case,  the  Asantes  did  not  get  a  chance  to  declare 
war  against  Akra  before  they  were  faced  at  Katamansu. 

However  this  may  be,  the  existence  of  true  respect  and  friendship 
between  the  Asantes  and  Akras  is  proved  by  different  smaller 
circumstances. 

Before  the  battle  of  Katamansu,  several  of  the  Asante  monarchs 
used  to  apprize  the  kings  of  Akra  and  their  fetishes  of  any  projected 
expedition,  and  receive  in  return  fetish-leaves  and  war-medicines. 
On  the  return  from  such  expeditions  large  presents  of  prisoners 
and  spoils  were  sent  to  the  Akras. 

Further,  there  were  annual  presents  sent  by  the  former  kings  of 
Asante  to  the  chiefs  of  Akra.  Once  upon  sending  such  annual 
presents,  and  also  to  sympathize  with  the  Akras  for  the  Thursday 
Invasion  in  1812,  the  road  having  been  stopped  in  consequence  of 
the  invasion,  the  messengers  made  their  way  through  Akwamu. 
Akoto,  the  king  of  Akwamu,  sent  an  escort  headed  by  Ofori  Biribiti 
to  conduct  the  messengers  safe  to  Akra.  The  Akuapems,  hearing 
about  the  messengers,  planned  to  attack  and  rob  the  escort  of  the 
presents.    A  fight  ensued,  in  which  Ofori  Biribiti  was  wounded. 

All  difficult  cases  that  occurred  among  the  Akras  themselves  were 
settled  by  a  special  commissioner  from  Kumase,  as  in  the  instance 
of  Odade  Afrowua  and  others.  Several  principal  men  among  the 
Akras  were  befriended  by  the  kings  of  Asante.  They  were  never 
tributaries  to  them,  as  the  Fantes,  Akems,  Akwamus,  and  Akuapems 
were.  The  observance  of  Osei's  oath  was,  however,  prevalent,  that 
offenders  were  fined  by  the  Asante  residents  in  the  countr3^ 

One  Kwame  Ata  was  accused  of  having  used  some  terms  of  great 
disrespect  to  the  king.  Thereupon  Saki  Akomia  of  Akra  was  com- 
missioned by  the  chiefs  of  Akra  to  bring  him  over  to  Kumase  to 
be  judged  b}'  the  king.  But  being  found  not  guilty,  he  was  sent 
back  without  any  punishment. 

With  the  exception  of  the  lime  prepared  by  the  people  of  Tema 
and  the  Akras,  which  the  Akuapems  carried  to  Kumase,  no  direct 

12 


178  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

service    had  ever  been  performed  by    them  in  acknowledgment  of 
their  subjection  to  the  Asantes, 

At  length,  to  the  infinite  joy  of  the  whole  country,  it  was  made 
known  that  the  British  Government,  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the 
existing  state  of  things,  had  directed  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy,  the 
Governor-in-chief  of  Sierra  Leone,  to  proceed  to  tlie  Gold  Coast. 

The  Akras  were  at  that  time  in  a  flourishing  state  owing  to  their 
exemption  from  Asante  invasions. 

From  the  expulsion  of  the  Akwamus  in  1733  up  to  1826,  almost 
a  century,  the  Akras  enjoyed  peace  and  prosperity.  As  traders  and 
brokers  to  European  merchants  in  the  slave  traffic,  and  also  by 
several  affinities  to  them,  they  acquired  riches  and  popularity  and 
improvement  in  their  social  life.  The  foreign  and  civil  wars  in  which 
they  were  engaged  during  that  time,  did  not  cause  them  much  loss 
of  lives.  They  alone,  in  those  critical  times,  had  not  suffered  by 
any  Asante  invasion.  The  country  was  well  peopled  and  able  to 
send  out  a  force  of  20,000  warriors.  Their  political  and  military 
administrations  were  in  good  order.  They  were  mostly  blessed  with 
good,  powerful,  brave,  and  patriotic  kings,  chiefs,  captains  and  rich 
men,  who  had  of  late  broken  the  peace  with  Asante  by  complying 
with  the  request  of  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy,  and  were  now  eager  to 
assail  that  power  at  once  before  it  were  too  late.  Foi-  they  knew  that 
their  children  would  have  to  suffer  the  worst,  if  the  Asantes  were 
to  invade  the  country,  when  they  had  been  gathered  to  their  fathers. 

The  warlike  spirit  evinced  at  that  age,  was  employed  by  the 
fetish  priests  as  a  means  of  making  money.  They  told  the  people 
by  what  sort  of  sacrifices  the  king  of  Asante  could  be  stimulated 
to  action.  Hence  different  oracles  were  obtained  to  that  eifect  from 
the  principal  fetishes.  The  oracle  of  Sakumo  was,  to  make  a  man 
and  a  stool  of  clay,  to  place  them  outside  the  town,  on  the  road 
leading  to  the  interior,  and  to  catch  a  black  flying  ant  and  pnt  it  on 
the  stool.  After  the  insect  had  stung  the  dayman  three  times,  it 
should  be  removed  from  the  stool.  The  oracle  from  Lakpa  was, 
to  make  seven  different  camps,  to  put  fire  to  the  sheds  one  after  an- 
other, till  the  seven  camps  were  reduced  to  ashes.  That  ofTema 
Sakumo  was,  to  make  a  wooden  stool,  tie  it  to  a  rope,  drag  it  to  the 
bush,  and  back  again  home.  All  this  was  to  show  that  they  were 
ready  and  anxious  to  fight  the  Asantes. 


Chapter  XIV.  17» 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Arrival   of,    and  preparations    made    by  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy    for  the 
invasion  of  Asante. —  Expeditions   to  Aburi  and  Asikuma.     1822 — 23. 

A  few  moutlis  previous  to  the  28*''  of  March  1822,  when  Sir 
Charles  MacCarthy  landed  at  Cape  Coast  to  assume  the  government 
of  the  British  Settlements  on  the  Gold  Coast,  and,  amid  the  tiring 
of  cannon  and  general  rejoicing,  read  the  new  charter  and  procla- 
mation, —  a  difference  had  taken  place  between  the  English  Govern- 
ment, and  the  Asantes  on  the  following  occasion. 

0[»entri,  the  chief  of  Abora,  and  principal  caboceer  of  the  Fante 
nation,*)  had  a  slave  by  name  Kwame  Tete,  who,  having  committed 
some  crime,  sought  refuge  in  the  town  of  Cape  Coast;  upon  which 
Opentri,  without  making  any  application  to  the  Governor  to  deliver 
him  up,  proceeded  himself  with  a  force  to  Cape  Coast,  seized,  and 
carried  him  to  Mowure,  the  then  Dutch  settlement,  six  miles  east 
of  Cape  Coast,  and  there  caused  him  to  be  beheaded.  When  this 
outrage  was  made  known  to  Mr.  Smith,  the  Governor,  he  despatched 
a  party  of  eighty-tive  soldiers  under  the  command  of  Mr.  CoUiver 
to  seize  Opentri,  who  was,  however,  warned  of  their  approach,  and 
an  action  took  place  in  Mowure  town,  in  which  eleven  lives  were 
lost,  many  wounded,  and  Opentri  himself  killed,  and  his  body  con- 
veyed to  Cape  Coast  Castle.  As  the  whole  Fante  nation  was  then 
subject  to  the  king  of  Asante,  Opentri's  master  Osam  Kofi  appealed 
to  the  King,  and  urged  him  to  demand  satisfaction  from  the  British 
Government. 

This  affair  was  still  pending,  when  a  quarrel  took  place  in  Ano- 
mabo  Fort  between  one  of  the  sergeants  of  the  Royal  African  Corps, 
whose  native  name  was  Kwadwo  Otetefo,  and  an  Asante  trader, 
in  which  the  latter  used  some  terms  of  great  disrespect  to  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  fort;  upon  which  the  sergeant  retorted,  and  appliml 
the  same  reproachful  language  to  the  king  of  Asante.  This  silly 
affair  cost  the  sergeant  his  life;  for  the  words  were  related  to  the 
king,  who  was  advised  by  the  Fantes  and  some  of  his  chiefs  to 
insist  that  the  unfortunate  man  should  be  delivered  up  to  him  to 
be  punished  as  he  might  deem  fit.     This  insolent  demand  was,  of 


*)  Osam  Kofi  was  then  the  chief  of  Abora  and  principal  caboceer  of 
the  Fante  nation.  He  being  poor,  Opentri,  who  was  his  own  servant, 
got  into  power  by  riches. 

12* 


180  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

course,  not  complied  with,  and  thus  all  intercourse  was  broken  off 
till  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy's  arrival,  when  these  circumstances  were 
made  known  to  him. 

It  might  have  been  expected  that  His  Excellency  had  announced 
to  the  Kino-  by  an  ambassador  the  transfer  of  the  Forts  from  the 
African  Company  to  the  Crown,  and  his  arrival  to  take  upon  him- 
self the  supreme  command,  which  would  doubtless  have  led  to  the 
settlement  of  any  differences  then  existing.  His  Excellency,  however, 
did  not  attempt  anything  of  the  kind,  but  immediately  began  to 
gain  over  the  Wasas,  Fantes,  etc.,  inducing  them  to  throw  otT  their 
allegiance  to  the  king  of  Asante.  And  the  brave  British  soldier 
was  perfectly  right  in  doing  so ;  because  the  officials  of  the  late 
African  Company  refused  to  give  him  information  or  to  take  office 
under  him.  The  tyranny  of  the  king,  the  oppression  which  the 
Fantes  had  to  endure,  and  the  insolence  of  the  king's  residents  in 
the  country,  convinced  him  that  there  could  be  no  solution  of  the 
difficulties,  but  by  war.  The  views  of  the  new  Governor  were  soon 
made  known  to  the  King,  through  the  Elminas  and  his  residents 
at  different  Fante  towns,  and  thus  the  breach  was  widened. 

Sir  Charles  MacCarthy  left  matters  in  this  state  on  his  first  visit 
to  the  Gold  Coast,  and  returned  to  Sierra  Leone,  leaving  Major 
Chisholm  in  command.  A  few  montlis  after  his  departure,  the  same 
sergeant  was  sent  by  the  officer  commanding  at  Anomabo  to  Agj'a, 
a  small  town  about  three  miles  away,  where  he  was  seized  by  the 
Fante  chiefs  (among  whom  was  Amoenu,  the  chief  of  Anomabo) 
and  delivered  to  Kwame  Butuakwa,  Amoa  Bata,  and  Apentento, 
the  Asante  residents  at  Abora,  in  whose  hands  he  remained  for  four 
or  five  months.  He  was  at  last  cruelly  put  to  death,  and  his  head 
and  hands  sent  to  the  King. 

The  sergeant's  detention  for  four  or  five  months  at  Dunkwa  by 
Kwame  Butuakwa  and  party,  before  being  brutally  killed,  streng- 
thens the  evidence  of  the  following  narrative,  which  says :  "The  ser- 
geant, after  apprehension,  was  sent,  under  an  escort,  to  the  King 
who,  personally  desirous  to  live  in  peace  with  the  British  Govern- 
ment, raised  objections  to  the  sergeant's  being  brought  to  Kumase, 
and  released  him,  as  Kwame  Ata  was  in  former  years  acquitted, 
but  punished  the  accusers  with  death.  The  chiefs  and  captains  of 
Asante  took  the  responsibility  upon  themselves,  and  authorized 
Butuakwa  to  kill  the  sergeant  in  spite  of  the  king's  objections." 
Before    executing  the  order,   Butuakwa,   however,   was  reported  to 


CliJiptei-  XIV.  181 

have  said:  *^How  often  have  I  Iried  to  keep  together  the  power  and 
kingdom  of  Asaute  by  my  eloquence,  but  they  would  not  have  it." 
Some  chyle  being  found  mixed  up  with  the  blood  of  the  sergeant, 
the  bystanders  exclaimed  '^Wiase  agu  hyirew,  atofo  aba  man  mu", 
which  means:. 'The  world  has  given  the  white  clay  (sign  of  justi- 
fication), the  slain  in  the  field  of  battle  will  be  numerous."—  That 
saying  at  last  i)roved  indeed  a  prophecy. 

Sir  Ciiarles  was  soon  apprized  of  the  event,  and  returned  to  the 
Gold  Coast  with  the  intention  of  punishing  the  Asantes.  For  this 
purpose,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  he  brought  down  a  reinforcement  of 
only  thirty-five  men  of  the  2'"'  West  India  Regiment,  which,  with  the 
troops  then  at  Cape  Coast  and  Anoniabo,  made  his  number  about 
220  men.  With  this  force,  a  swift  and  secret  night-march  and  an 
onslaught  in  the  dusk  of  the  morning  of  the  26"^''  of  February  1823 
was  made  to  surprise  Butuakwa  and  his  party  at  Dunkwa.  But 
by  the  treachery  of  a  native  of  Cape  Coast,  named  Sam  Brew,  the 
project  was  defeated;  for  at  daylight,  when  the  party  expected  to 
surprise  the  Asaute  chief  in  Abora,  they  had  been  led  by  their 
guides  into  an  ambuscade  at  Tuahko,  many  miles  from  that  place, 
and  surrounded  by  the  enemy.  The  advance  guard,  consisting  of 
a  few  well-trained  men  of  the  W.  I.  R,  under  the  command  of  Cap- 
tain Laing,  fought  bravely,  whilst  the  Volunteers  vanished  in  an 
instant.  They  succeeded  in  making  good  their  retreat  to  Anomabo, 
but  not  without  the  loss  of  one  officer,  ten  men  killed,  and  forty 
wounded  and  missing.     The  war  was  thus  commenced  in  Fante. 

Still  the  Asantes  were  not  only  permitted  to  trade  to  Akra, 
but  the  monthl^y  stipend  to  the  King  continued  to  be  paid  here. 
This  little  affair  might  have  convinced  His  Excellency  that  the  A- 
santes  possessed  courage  and  were  not  entirely  unacquainted  with 
war  and  stratagems.  For  after  the  battle  at  Dunkwa,  the  King  de- 
spatched the  renowned  Akra  linguist  Kwashi  Apente  with  the  King's 
son  Prince  Owusu  Pera,  Anoneano  and  Abam,  to  tell  the  king  of 
Akra  what  had  happened  and  what  he  had  heard  about  the  move- 
ments of  one  Mankata  (Sir  Charles),  who  was  preparing  to  invade 
Asante,  and  also  to  know  from  the  Akra  king,  whether  he  would 
join  the  British  Government  against  him?  A  very  difficult  question 
that!  To  deliver  his  message  and  the  Akra  king's  answer  accurate- 
ly, the  linguist  was  made  to  swear  on  a  certain  fetish  atKumase, 
and  had  his  lips  wounded  by  the  sword  of  the  King's  successor  Osei 
Yaw,  with  which  he  swore  to  fight  the  British  Government,  saying 


182  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

thus:  "'No  nation  will  dare  to  invade  Kumase,  unless  we  rather  make 
war  against  that  nation.  Whoever  attempts  to  burn  Kumase,  shall 
quench  the  fire  with  his  own  blood." 

After  several  meetings  held  by  the  Akras  alone,  they  unanimously 
resolved  to  support  the  British  Government.  Prince  Owusu  Pera 
was  brought  by  the  Akra  chiefs  before  Captain  Blenkarue  in  James 
Fort,  and  ordered  by  the  commandant  to  return  speedily  and  tell 
his  father  that  the  country  would  be  invaded  by  the  English. 

Another  tradition  says,  that  the  skull  of  the  sergeant  killed  at 
Dunkwa  was  brought  by  Prince  Owusu  Pera  to  the  king  of  Akra, 
with  overtures  of  peace  to  the  English;  but  that  Sir  Charles  Mac 
Carthy  rejected  the  proposals  made  by  the  King  through  the  Dutch 
Governor,  after  which  Commandant  Blenkarne  ordered  the  prince 
to  get  away  with  the  skull. 

His  Excellency  after  the  Dunkwa  encounter  redoubled  his  efforts 
to  withdraw  the  Wasas  and  Fantes  from  their  allegiance,  which 
efforts  were  attended  with  some  success. 

He  also  succeeded  in  gaining  Kwadwo  Tibo,  king  of  Dankera; 
he  likewise  now  embodied  800  Militia  at  Cape  Coast,  Anomabo  and 
Akra,  paid  a  visit  to  the  latter  place,  and  had  an  interview  with 
the  Danish  Governor,  Major  Johan  C.  von  Richelieu,  and  made  every 
arrangement  with  him  to  allow  all  Danish  subjects  to  join  the  ex- 
pedition against  Asante,  He  had  an  interview  also  with  the  in- 
fluential native  merchants,  Messrs.  Hansen,  Bannerman  and  Richter 
etc.  Through  these  means,  after  considerable  trouble  and  promises 
of  rewards  held  forth  to  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra,  the  English, 
Dutch  and  Danish  Akras  were  induced  to  declare  against  the  A- 
santes.  Before  their  final  consent  was  obtained,  they  told  Sir  Charles 
that  they  had  a  master  whose  oracles  were  more  essential,  and 
which  they  must  first  consult.  The  chiefs  thereupon  applied  to 
Okomfo  Nyako,  the  renowned  fetish  prophet  in  that  age,  seeking 
divination  from  Nai  (the  sea),  their  highest  fetish,  who  told  them 
through  the  prophet,  that  his  mind  would  not  be  known  until  his 
great  captain  Sakumo  had  been  consulted.  One  Monday  night,  the 
chiefs  assembled  at  Nyako's  predicting-shed,  inquiring  the  same  from 
Sakumo.  What  they  obtained  was:  "I  have  already  raised  my 
sword."  The  oracle  obtained  from  the  female  fetish  (lagoon)  Kole 
on  the  following  Friday  night  was:  "I  have  my  sacred  basin  already 
in  my  left  hand,  and  I  will  sprinkle  the  refreshing  water  on  my 
husbands.'"    Large  presents  were   privately  given    to  the  chiefs  by 


Chapter  XIV.  183 

those  native  merchants,  who  made  tlieni  nnderstand  that  to  side 
with  Asante  was,  as  it  were,  to  keep  a  snake  in  tiie  pocket.  And 
the  same  experiences  they  themselves  hade  made  when  general 
Amankwa  Abunyawa  was  on  the  coast  in  1814,  when  several  Akras 
were  subjected  to  heavy  tines  and  extortions,  so  that  many  a  one 
became  eitlier  a  slave  or  pawn. 

After  having  gained  over  the  Akras  and  obtained  the  full  consent 
of  the  Danish  Government,  the  next  important  step  was,  to  gain 
over  the  Akems,  Akuapems,  Akwamus,  and  Krgbos,  all  tributaries 
to  Asante. 

Tshumasi  Ankra,  headman  among  the  Akem  hunters  in  the  bush 
near  AUra,  was  ordered  to  come  down  to  the  coast.  King  Amugi 
and  his  chiefs,  after  having  sounded  his  mind,  brought  him  over  to 
Captain  Blenkarne;  he  was  then  commissioned  to  go  to  Dokuwa, 
queen  of  Akem.  That  masculine  queen  had  sworn  never  to  attend 
any  grand  yam-feast  in  Kumase,  on  account  of  several  cruelties  the 
Akems  had  undergone  at  the  hands  of  the  Asantes.  For,  the  first 
twin  brothers  of  the  royal  family,  and  kings  of  Akem,  (viz.,  Ata 
and  Ata,  her  uncles)  had  been  killed  by  the  Asantes;  after  those, 
the  second  twin  brothers,  who  were  her  brothers,  shared  the  same 
fate.  Hence  she  determined  never  to  go  up  to  Kumase  with  her 
twin  sons  Ata  and  Obiwom.  Her  presence  was,  however,  urgently 
required  at  Kumase,  and  after  much  hesitation  and  misgiving  she 
yielded  to  the  positive  demand  of  the  King  to  go  to  Asante.  Du- 
ring this  time  Ado  Dankwa  also  sent  his  son  Atiemo,  with  Adi,  Asa 
and  Kwasi,  to  the  queen  to  inform  her  of  his  intention  to  support 
the  king  of  Asante,  and  not  Sir  Charles.  She  agreed  to  do  the 
same  after  all,  and  sent  Oware  Fori,  Apeagyei  Aponsagya  and  A- 
sirili  to  accompany  Ado's  ambassadors  to  announce  their  intentions 
to  the  king.  Not  long  after  the  messengers  had  gone,  Dokuwa 
was  quitting  Akem  for  Asante,  and  had  reached  Abompe,  when  the 
chiefs  Okru  of  Apapam,  Obeng  Ayekwa  of  Apedwa,  and  Kwasi 
Asimen  of  Tete  determined  to  force  her  back  or  deprive  her  of 
the  Akem  stool.  She  was  supported  by  Tanno  Asiakwa  of  the  O- 
yoko  tribe,  an  adherent  of  the  king  of  Asante,  and  the  most  in- 
fluential chief  in  all  Akem.  He  was  at  Abompe  vanquished  in  a 
battle  against  the  three  chiefs,  and  beheaded.  The  queen  was,  at 
the  same  place,  overtaken  by  Tshumasi  Ankra,  who  delivered  to 
her  the  message  from  the  Government  and  the  king  and  chiefs  of 
Akra.     At  first  she  positively  declined  to  break  off  her  allegiance  to 


184  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

tlie  king  of  Asante,  as  she  did  not  believe  in  the  success  of  the 
expedition.  She  said:  ^'Suppose  the  white  men  and  the  Akras  fail 
to  break  down  the  power  of  Asante,  what  will  become  of  myself 
and  my  subjects?  Whither  could  we  flee?  The  white  men  could 
run  away  to  Europe,  the  Akras  would  be  safe  enough  on  the  coast^ 
but  upon  me  and  my  subjects  the  Asantes  would  pour  out  revenge!" 
Tshumasi  replied :  "Suppose  the  white  men  run  away  from  the  coast, 
will  they  not  put  a  stop  to  the  importation  of  gun,  powder,  flint 
and  knife,  etc.?  And  could  the  Asantes  fight  without  these  ma- 
terials?" The  debate  ran  high,  till  at  last  the  queen  was  overcome 
by  the  fellowing  speech.  "The  white  men  have  brought  out  corn 
with  them,  have  determined  to  conquer  Asante,  and  plant  the  corn 
in  the  soil  of  Kumase,  and  eat  some  l>efore  returning  to  Europe!" 
Dokuwa  gave  in  and  was  brought  to  Akra  with  her  twin  sons  and 
people.  Her  eldest  son  Ampoforo,  though  but  a  youth  at  that  time, 
w^as  presented  to  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra  as  the  king  of  Akem, 
although  the  reins  of  government  were  in  her  hands.  At  the  re- 
ception  given  to  her  by  the  British  ofiicials  and  the  chiefs  of  Akra, 
she  held  in  her  hand  a  stick  with  a  parrot  sitting  on  it,  to  indicate 
that  she  could  retire  like  a  parrot  into  the  forest,  should  the  British 
Government  and  Akras  fail  in  conquering  the  Asantes. 

After  completing  all  arrangements  with  the  Governor  and  the 
chiefs  of  Akra,  she  left  her  twin  sons  Ata  and  Obiwom  as  hostages, 
renewed  her  ancient  league  with  the  Akra  king,  and  confirmed  the 
whole  by  an  oath  on  their  chief  fetish. 

This  being  done,  the  next  people  to  gain  were  the  Akuapems. 
Some  force  was  required  to  induce  them  to  declare  war  against 
their  former  masters.  Yaw  Okoampa,  the  right  heir  to  the  stool 
of  Aburi,  had  gone  to  Akropong  and  had  summoned  Kwafum,  who 
had  been  made  chief  of  Aburi,  to  claim  the  stool  as  his  rightful 
property.  The  ambassadors  of  Dokuwa  and  Ado  Dankwa,  who 
were  sent  to  the  king  of  Asante  to  negotiate  for  peace  and  to  inform 
the  king  that  they  would  never  declare  against  him,  were  still  de- 
tained at  Kumase.  Kwafum,  being  very  cunning,  knew  that  by 
yielding  to  the  persuasions  of  Ado  Dankwa  to  declare  against  the 
Akras  and  the  British  Goverment,  he  might  forfeit  the  stool  of  A- 
buri,  as  by  that  he  would  come  under  the  power  of  Asante.  He 
managed  to  practise  martial  law  by  plundering  and  killing  prince 
Owusu  Piabere,  one  of  the  sons  of  Osei,  who  had  passed  down  to 
the  coast   for   the  purpose  of  buying  goods,   with  all  his  people  at 


Chapter  XIV.  185 

Agyankama.  Ademo  and  the  other  iiiessengers  were  cruelly  killed 
at  Kamase,  when  this  outrage  was  reported  there.  Ado  Dankwa 
tried  to  take  revenge  by  beheading  Kwabina  Loko  of  Late,  who 
first  fell  upon  the  prince,    but  all  Akuapem  opposed    his  doing  so. 

No  sooner  was  the  inurdci"  of  prince  Owusu  Piabere  committed, 
than  Kwafum  declared  in  favour  of  the  Government.  He  ran  down 
to  the  coast,  entered  into  the  alliance,  and  swore  allegiance  on  a 
fetish  given  to  him  by  tlie  chiefs  of  Akra.  But  in  spite  of  the  s;ul 
news  from  Kumase,  that  Atiemo  with  the  other  messengers  had 
been  killed  by  the  king,  Ado  Dankwa  still  adhered  to  the  Asantes. 
After  fruitless  remonstrances  and  tiireats,  an  expedition  was  orga- 
nized of  4000  Akras  under  Captain  Blenkarne;  Messrs.  Hansen  and 
Richter  joined  it  and  marched  to  Aburi.  Kwafum  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  Akuapems  also  Joined.  Information  reached  the  camp 
that  Ado  Dankwa  was  preparing  to  escape  to  Kumase.  So  the  ex- 
pedition proceeded  to  Akro]»ong.  Ado  was  apprehended  by  Kwa- 
fum at  Adobesum,  and  brought  to  Captain  Blenkarne.  The  Asante 
residents  at  Akropong,  over  one  hundred  persons,  with  a  large 
amount  of  collected  tribute,  were  captured  and  brought  to  Akra, 
some  killed,  and  the  rest  sold  into  slavery.  At  Akra,  Ado  was  forced 
to  declare  against  the  Asantes,  gave  his  son  Kofi  Banipo  and  neph- 
ew Okra  as  hostages,  and  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra  made  him 
swear  on  a  fetish.  Ado  was  after  all  these  arrangements  still  very 
lukewarm,  and  thus  sang  at  a  play: 

"Me  nenanom  Nkranfo, —  menkame  mo  o,  meiikame  mo! 

Osei  asem,  wonni!     AdVvane  o,    adwane  o!" 
''You  people  of  Akra,     my  grandfathers  you  are; 
I  don't  oppose  you  (but  I  am  not  responsible). 
Osei  is  not  to  be  trilled  with  ! 
You'd  better  dee,  you'd  better  flee!" 

The  chiefs  were  annoyed  at  such  a  song,  and  hushed  him  up. 

With  the  Akwamus  and  Krobos  no  trouble  was  encountered,  es- 
pecially as  the  king  of  Akwauiu  had  made  sad  experience  at  Kunuise 
in  a  case  between  himself  and  Pobi  Asawa  of  Akra.  The  latter  swore 
the  oath  of  Osei  on  king  Akoto  of  Akwamu,  when  he  was  once  trying 
to  kill  him  for  having  had  illegal  intercourse  with  an  Akwamu  wo- 
man, whom  the  king,  under  false  pretences,  claimed  as  his  wife. 
Pobi  Asaw^a,  knowing  that  the  woman  was  no  wife  of  the  king's, 
swore    that    both  he    and  the    king  must  appear   before  Osei,    and 


186  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

settle  the  case  there.  The  king's  personal  expenses  from  Akwamu 
to  Kumase,  those  of  his  chiefs  and  retinne,  and  also  those  in  pro- 
viding a  sheep  every  day  to  the  supposed  culprit  in  irons,  as  the 
king  was  required  to  do  every  day  by  virtue  of  the  oath  sworn, 
the  judgment  given  against  the  king  in  Kumase,  with  the  enormous 
fine  imposed,  and  the  ill-treatment  which  he  was  made  to  suffer, 
had  cautioned  him  never  to  declare  in  favour  of  Asante.  He  gave 
N.yankomago,  and  Agyemang,  the  king  of  Akem  Kotoku,  gave  O- 
kenni  as  hostages  to  the  British  and  Danish  Governments. 

Thus  the  Governor  had  succeeded  in  stripping  the  Asantes  of 
the  whole  of  their  tributary  force  on  their  southern  frontier.  He 
now  repaired  again  to  Sierra  Leone,  leaving  to  Major  Chisholm 
the  arduous  task  of  managing  this  tumultuous  force,  and  of  satis- 
fying the  unreasonable  demands  of  the  numerous  chiefs,  who  re- 
minded him  of  the  promises  held  forth  to  them  by  Sir  Charles 
MacCarthy,  as  the  price  of  tiieir  joining  him  against  the  Asantes. 
In  His  Excellency's  absence,  several  expeditions  were  despatched 
into  the  interior  of  the  Fante  country,  some  to  oblige  certain  chiefs 
to  remain  faithful  to  their  new  alliance,  and  others  to  attack  those 
who  still  adhered  to  the  Asantes. 

One  of  those  expeditions  was  that  to  Asikuma.  Before  throwing 
otT  his  allegiance  to  the  king  of  Asante,  Aduanan  Apea,  the  chief 
of  Adwumanko  Pong,  had  to  collect  the  annual  tribute  in  Fante,  part 
of  which  he  used  in  buying  salt  for  the  King.  Kwasi  Amankwa 
the  chief  of  Asikuma,  had  to  send  the  salt  to  Kumase  by  Asikuma 
people.  Amankwa  lirst  declared  in  favour  of  the  English  Govern- 
ment; but  when  Apea  declined  to  do  so  likewise,  the  same  Kwasi 
Amankwa  informed  the  King  against  Apea,  as  if  he  (Apea)  had 
thrown  off  his  allegiance  to  the  King, —  upon  which  forty  of  Apea's 
people,  who  were  then  present  at  Kumase,  were  beheaded.  The 
Kins:  then  commissioned  Kwasi  Amankwa  with  the  collection  of  the 
tribute,  and  also  to  demand  back  any  amount  Apea  had  still  in  his 
possession,  after  which,  to  fight  with  him  as  a  proof  of  his  loyalt3^ 

The  Fantes  refused  to  pay  any  further  tribute  to  Amankwa. 
Apea  too,  having  declared  in  favour  of  the  English,  when  his  people 
were  beheaded  in  Kumase,  refused  to  give  back  the  tribute  collected 
to  him. —  Amankwa  gave  battle,  but  was  defeated;  his  town  was 
burnt  down,  and  he  escaped  into  the  bush. 

After  a  few  weeks,  he  returned  to  the  ruins  of  his  town,  when 
a  detachment  under  Obongo,  Tawia,  and  Osimpam,  was  sent  against 


iiiiin^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


Chapter  XV.  187 

him.  On  thoir  approach,  Amankwii  again  retreated  into  the  bnsh. 
The  detachenient  now  gave  themselves  up  to  drink  and  merriment, 
vvei'c  attacked  one  night  by  Amaokwa,  and  routed  with  heavy  loss; 
the  three  i)rincipal  men  were  among  the  shiiii. 

On  hearing  of  this  disaster,  Captain  Blenkarne,  Captain  liingston, 
and  Mr.  Hansen  immediately  organized  an  army  of  the  Akras  about 
4000  strong.  Chief  Amnia,  of  James  Town,  chief  Dowuona  of  Chri- 
stiansborg,  Tete  Tshuru,  Ato,  Ankra,  Kwatei  Kodwo,  and  Sempe 
Mensa  directed  the  expedition.  These,  i<nowing  that  their  appea- 
rance in  the  Fante  country  would  look  too  mean,  as  their  state- 
decorations  were  then  inferior  to  those  of  the  Fante  chiefs,  proposed 
to  strip  themselves  of  any  gold  ornament  and  the  like,  and  to  wear 
fetishes  only;  in  those  they  appeared.  A  grand  reception  was,  how- 
ever, given  them  by  Apea,  at  which  they  were  much  astonished 
at  the  grandeur  of  the  Fante  chiefs  in  a  meeting.  They  compared 
Apea  to  Osei  and  Akoto,  besides  whom,  no  one  else  on  the  whole 
Gold  Coast  was  so  magniticent  and  powerful.  Kwasi  Amankwa 
had  meanwhile  fled  from  the  Fante  country  to  Asante,  and  after 
a  vigilant,  yet  unsuccessful,  search  of  him  and  his  party  at  Asikuma, 
the  Akras  marched  home.  Kwatei  Kodwo  l)ecame  a  friend  of  Apea; 
he  and  Dowuona  were  the  two  chiefs  he  acknowledged.  On  the 
return  of  the  expedition,  the  Akras  endeavoured  to  acquire  state- 
decorations  in  imitation  of  the  Fantes. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Martial    law  proclaimed    by    the  British   Government. —  Kwudwo    Tibo's 
flight  from  Kumase. — Sir  Charles'  death. — Expedition  to  the  Pra.  1824. 

After  Sir  Charles  had  succeeded  in  stripping  the  Asantes  of  their 
tributary  countries,  he  declared  war  against  the  King,  and  forthwith 
proclaimed  Martial  Law. 

During  those  days  Asante  Agyei,  the  son  of  Adum  Ata,  the  re- 
nowned linguist  of  Kumase,  came  to  the  Coast.  He  was  arrested 
and  imprisoned  in  .James  Fort;  but  as  the  chiefs  of  Akra  inter- 
ceded for  him,  he  was  released,  and  went  up  to  Kumase.  He  met 
a  large  number  of  Asante  traders  coming  to  the  Coast  to  trade, 
and  advised  them  to  return;  but  very  few  of  them  complied;    the 


188  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante, 

rest,  about  300,  went  to  the  Coast.  The  same  day  the  martial  law 
was  put  into  force.  Captain  Blenkarne  hastened  to  Christiansborg, 
where  lots  of  the  Asante  traders  were  residing.  Their  goods  were 
confiscated,  and  themselves  either  killed  or  sold  as  slaves.  A  good 
many  of  them  rushed  into  Mr.  Richter's  house  for  protection.  The 
chiefs  of  Christiansborg  went  to  them,  and  took  a  fetish  oatli  that 
no  evil  should  befall  them.  But  no  sooner  had  they  left  the  prem- 
ises, than  they  were  attacked,  some  captured  alive,  others  cut  to 
pieces,  or  shot  down.  A  good  amount  of  their  property  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Christiansborg  people.  Mr.  Peter  Quist  was  wounded 
by  an  Asante  during  the  struggle. 

After  having  witnessed  the  very  active  execution  of  the  martial 
law  by  the  people  of  Christiansborg  and  James  Town,  King  Okai 
of  Dutch  Town  with  his  chiefs  determined,  after  all,  to  imbrue  their 
hands  in  the  blood  of  their  former  friends,  so  as  to  remove  any 
suspicion  which  might  be  held  about  tliem  by  tlie  English  Govern- 
ment. The  king  and  his  tliree  chiefs,  Akvvete  Kmbysaki,  Akotia 
Owosika,  and  Aponsa,  therefore  appointed  Amma  (xbagi'i,  Teko 
Owara,  and  captain  Mensa.  These  waj'laid  Prince  Adu  ofKumase 
and  his  people  at  the  late  Mr.  Haniierman"s  garden,  and  fell  upon 
them  as  they  were  escaping  from  James  Town.  The  [»rince  and 
three  of  his  people  were  killed.  Captain  Blenkarne,  on  being  in- 
formed of  what  the  king  had  done  in  proof  of  his  faithful  adherence 
to  the  new  alliance,  sent  him  a  [iresent  of  200  heads  of  cowries. 
''Do  you  rejoice  when  such  a  heavy  case  is  lying  upon  youV ''  was 
a  song*)  of  those  Asantes  subjected  to  all  sorts  of  barbarous  cruelties 
by  the  martial  law.  They  anticipated  the  speedy  retaliation  on  the 
part  of  their  king.    Thus  the  war  was  also  commenced  at  Akra. 

It  was,  however,  a  very  trying  case  for  the  people  of  Dutch 
Town,  to  see  their  old  friends  thus  treated.  But  as  they  had  al- 
ready given  their  consent  to  join  the  British  Government  to  fight 
the  Asantes,  they  could  not  go  beyond  that.  Some,  however,  tried 
to  bury  the  dead  bodies  lying  about  Kuku  near  Christiansborg,  but 
were  advised  to  desist  from  doing  so,  and  had  to  obey. 

The  gallantry  displayed  by  Tibo  at  the  invasion  of  Gyaman  in 
1<S18  had  greatly  astonished  the  King,  and  led  him  to  ask  "If  you 
fight  so  for  your  master,  how  would  you  tight  in  your  own  defence  V" 


*j  Thus  they  sang:  Asem  kokroko  te  si]   da   mo  so,   na  motene  ?     Mo- 
tene  aye  den  ? 


Chapter  XV  189 

Hence  Tibo  liad  perceived  the  critical  state  of  his  life  in  the  hands 
of  the  Asantes,  because  he  knew  how  his  predecessors  had  been 
killed  by  them.  He  was  a  wide-awake  prince,  and  liaving  been 
brought  up  in  Kumase,  had  studied  the  Asante  policy,  waiting  only 
for  an  opportunity  to  make  himself  independent. 

Tradition  differs  as  to  the  reason  why  Kwadwo  Tibo  was  sum- 
moned to  Kumase,  whence  he  effected  his  escape  to  the  coast. 
Some  say  it  was  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  ammunition  from  Sir 
Charles.  Another  tradition,  which  seems  more  probable,  relates  that 
a  rich  Wasa  man,  Kwadwo  Mensa,  grew  so  proud  and  independent 
that  he  ordered  one  of  his  slaves  to  blow  a  horn  thus:  "Obommofo, 
wummekum  Kwakuo?"  i.e.  hunter,  wouldn't  you  come  to  kill 
Kwakuo  (a  kind  of  monke}^)?  After  some  time  the  king  of  Asante 
was  informed  of  the  tune  of  that  peculiar  horn,  and  knew  what  it 
meant,  —  the  king  being  the  hunter,  and  Kwadwo  Mensa  the  mon- 
key living  independent  in  the  forest  and  defying  the  hunter  to 
catch  him.  Owusu  Akem  of  Akuropong,  the  king's  chamberlain, 
was  commissioned  to  march  with  an  army  to  Wasa  for  the  appre- 
hension of  Kwadwo  Mensa.  He  went  by  a  roundabout  wa^^  to 
Wasa,  defeated  Mensa,  cut  off  liis  head,  and  seized  his  property. 
But  on  his  way  back  he  passed  through  Banso,  the  capital  of  Dan- 
kera.  Kwadwo  Tibo  was  enraged  at  these  proceedings  in  Wasa, 
a  territory  that  stood  under  his  jurisdiction,  and  claimed  all  the 
gold  confiscated,  leaving  to  Owusu  only  the  prisoners  and  spoil. 

Tibo  was  now  summoned  to  appear  in  Kumase.  The  case  was 
judged  and  decided  in  favor  of  the  defendant.  Being  thus  acquitted,. 
Tibo  played  and  danced  all  night,  singing:  'T  once  had  no  master, 
but  now  I  iiave  one."  For  this  he  was  called  to  appear  in  Court 
a  second  time.  But  Adu  Sei  Tshatsha,  the  renowned  linguist  then 
in  Kumase,  a  Dankera  by  origin,  had  been  heavily  bribed  by  Aya- 
dankwa,  the  mother  of  Tibo,  who  accompanied  her  son  to  the  capital 
and  was  the  concubine  of  General  Opoku.  The  court  was  corrupted 
by  bribes,  because  the  king  was  ill,  and  could  not  attend  in  person. 
Beaten  and  Awua  Yaw,  the  chief  enemies  of  Tibo,  were  thus  un- 
able to  obtain  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  rest  to  punish  Tibo 
with  death. 

The  Dankeras,  in  consequence  of  a  false  report  that  their  king  had 
been  arrested  in  Kumase,  assailed  the  Asante  residents  and  slew 
four  of  their  chiefs:  Kofi  Mako,  Ankwani,  Kwisi  Awua  and  Afei. 
Tibo  was  again  called  before  the  Court,  but  his  legal  adviser,  Adu 


19.0  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Sei,  liad  instriicted  him  to  defend  himself  by  taking  tiie  forbidden 
oaths  of  Asante,  and  thns  he  flatly  denied  every  charge. 

The  Dankeras,  anxious  to  throw  olf  their  allegiance  to  Asante  and 
to  join  the  English,  urgently  requested  Tibo  to  come,  as  they  would 
else  act  without  him.  The  king  exhorted  his  people  to  be  patient 
and  abstain  from  acts  of  violence. 

There  were  then  four  Mohammedan  priests  in  Kumase:  Baba, 
Soma,  Sibri,  and  Kantama,  who  in  concurrence  with  Agyei  Yeboa, 
the  predicting  fetish-priest  of  Tibo,  were  trying  their  best  enchant- 
ments in  behalf  of  Tibo.  They  advised  him  to  leave  the  capital  one 
Thursday  night.  After  amusing  himself  with  dances  the  greater 
])art  of  the  night,  Kwadwo  Tibo  left  with  only  thirty  armed  men, 
ordering  the  drummer  to  beat  the  kettle-drum  during  the  whole 
night  after  his  departure.  His  people,  who  had  been  ordered  to 
meet  him  on  the  way,  had  sent  1000  Wasa  and  1000  Dankera 
armed  men  to  await  his  arrival,  who  had  meanwhile  concealed  them- 
selves in  the  forest  of  Terabuom.  The  small  party  of  armed  men 
he  had  with  him  was  stationed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Asafo  as 
rear-guard.  They  allowed  him  sufficient  time  to  meet  those  in  the 
forest,  then  marched  through  the  street  with  a  noise,  and  blew  the 
horn  of  Tibo:  '^Kwadwo  mmirikako!''  The  inhabitants  awoke,  and 
knowing  at  once  what  it  was,  attacked  them  suddenly;  but  Tibo 
was  gone.  The  Dankeras,  in  conjunction  with  the  rear-guard,  an- 
swered the  fire  of  the  Asantes,  and  a  sharp  conflict  ensued  with 
a  heavy  loss  to  the  Asantes,  and  the  town  was  plundered.  An- 
other attack  was  made  at  Ohiakose,  in  which  two  of  Tibo's  men, 
Ofori  and  Afuamoa,    were  killed  and  their  heads  sent  to  Kumase. 

On  receipt  of  those  heads,  captain  Dei  Kra  was  immediately  sent 
with  a  large  army  in  pursuit  of  Tibo;  Adu  Sei  Tshatsha  acting  as 
the  commander-in-chief.  But  his  army  was  not  sufficiently  supplied 
with  ammunition.  Hence  all  those  warriors  who  hastily  left  the 
capital  had  to  wait  at  Ohiakose  for  want  of  ammunition.  Thus  Tibo 
managed  to  escape.  We  may  be  allowed  to  suppose  that  the  cap- 
tains had  been  bribed.  Tibo  marched  in  two  days  from  Kumase 
to  Banso,  packed  everything,  with  all  his  people,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, and  resumed  his  march  towards  the  Coast. 

The  Asantes  were  ten  days  in  marching  from  Ohiakose  over 
Adubea  and  Afohomaso  to  Banso,  where  they  stayed  forty  days 
more  in  search  of  plunder.  Akobea  and  Pimpim,  two  messengers 
despatched  by  the  King  with  arms  and  ammunition,  urged  the  army 


Chapter  XV.  191 

to  carry  out  their  task,  stating  that  the  king-  had  appointed  Awua 
Yaw  commander-in-chief.  But  scarcely  had  the  Asantes  left  Ha)iso, 
when  a  Wasa  man,  Boampong,  with  700  warriors  blockaded  the 
road  behind  them,  killing  all  travellers  passing  from  or  to  the  capital. 

In  November  1823,  Sir  Charles  came  again  to  the  Gold  Coast, 
and.  on  the  27'*"  of  that  month,  was  informed  that  an  Asante  army 
20,000  strong  under  the  King's  cousin  Kokofu  Ofe  had  attacked  and 
totally  defeated  the  king  of  Dankera,  had  taken  his  country,  and 
was  pursuing  him  to  the  Coast,  in  which  direction  Kwadwo  Tibo 
was  Hying  with  the  utmost  speed.  His  Excellency  immediately 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  a  small  force  consisting  of  eighty  of  the 
Roj'al  African  Company,  300  Cape  Coast  Militia,  and  about  1200 
unorganized  Fantes.  Having  received  a  message  from  the  Wasa 
chief  Kwasi  Nyako,  that  he  was  ready  to  join  him  with  10,000  men, 
the  Governor  procured  arms  and  ammunition  for  all  of  them,  but 
no  more  than  600  men  made  their  appearance. 

Though  disappointed  by  that  chief,  Sir  Charles  resolved  to  en- 
counter the  Asantes.  Kwadwo  Tibo,  being  informed  of  the  approach 
of  an  English  officer  with  a  large  avmy  in  his  defence,  hastened 
to  join  him.  They  met,  Tibo  was  overjoyed,  but  is  said  to  have 
observed  that  the  Governor's  force  was  too  small  to  meet  the  Asantes, 
and  begged  Sir  Charles  to  retreat  a  few  miles  in  order  to  concen- 
trate all  the  available  forces;  but  he  replied,  "lam  confidontin  the 
strength  of  the  small  force  I  have  under  me,  I  am  determined  now 
even  to  otYer  myself  a  sacrifice,  that  the  one  to  conquer  shall  come 
after  me."  Tibo  turned  round  and  told  his  people,  'T  am  quite  sure 
that  the  Fantes  cannot  stand;  the  whole  charge  will  fall  upon  the  Gov- 
ernor and  his  small  force,  and  the  consequence  will  be  the  ruin  of 
Dankera!"  They  encamped  upon  the  banks  of  the  Ankwaw,  a  small 
tributary  of  the  Pra,  near  the  village  of  Asamankaw.  The  Wasa  force 
formed  the  right  wing,  about  1000  Dankeras  under  Tibo  tlu;  left 
wing,  and  Sir  Charles  with  the  Fantes  the  centre.  These  corri[>rised 
the  whole  of  his  force,  viz.,  380  Regulars  and  Militia,  and  about 
3000  of  the  unorganized  force.  Others  believe  that  Sir  Charles' 
men  numbered  in  all  5500.  On  the  21'"  of  January  1824,  His  Excel- 
lency engaged  the  enemy,  who  completely  lined  the  opposite  bank; 
the  British  soldiers  opened  fire  at  him  across  the  river.  Owing  to 
the  density  of  the  jungle  the  conflict  resolved  itself  into  a  series  of 
distinct  skirmishes.  The  Fantes  and  Wasas  threvv^  down  their  arms 
and  fled  at  the  first  discharge  from  the  Asantes,  leaving  the  unfor- 


192  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

tuiiate  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy  with  his  380  men  (with  only  20  rounds 
each)  aided  by  the  Dankeras  to  fight  nearly  20,000  men,  flushed 
with  recent  victories! 

For  several  hours  the  Regulars  and  Militia  kept  the  Asantes  from 
crossing  the  stream;  but  on  their  pouches  becoming  empty,  they 
were  no  longer  able  to  hold  their  ground,  and  no  sooner  did  the 
exulting  Asantes  perceive  that  the  fire  was  slacking,  than  they  forded 
the  river  and  by  their  overwhelming  numbers  and  their  peculiar 
mode  of  advancing  in  the  form  of  a  fan  completely  surrounded  Sir 
Charles  and  all  the  unfortunates  who  were  with  him.  They  had 
no  alternative  but  to  sell  their  lives  as  dear  as  possible.  They 
fought  with  their  bayonets,  till  overborne  by  the  pressure  of  num- 
bers, and  each  man  as  he  fell  was  instantly  decapitated. 

Sir  Charles  had  by  this  time  received  man^^  wounds  from  poi- 
soned weapons,  and  seeing  that  all  hope  had  fled  from  the  centre, 
he  rushed  in  where  the  king  of  Dankera  was  still  fighting  against 
vast  odds.  During  this  action  Messieurs  Buckle  and  Wetheral  were 
killed,  with  other  Europeans;  Captain  Raydon  was  afterwards  of- 
fered up  a  sacrifice  to  a  fetish.  Nine  British  Officers  and  180  Regu- 
lars and  Militia  were  killed,  missing  or  captured. 

When  His  Excellency  marched  with  his  small  force  to  cross  the 
river  Pra  and  support  Tibo,  he  had  no  thought  of  meeting  the  enemy- 
early,  for  he  had  despatched  Major  Chisholm  with  the  main  bodj 
consisting  of  600  Regulars  and  Militia  and  3000  unorganized  na- 
tives to  cross  the  Pra  at  Aponsasu  about  25  miles  on  his  right, 
Major  Laing  with  100  Regulars  and  Militia  and  2000  Fantes  in  the 
direction  of  Asen,  while  Captain  Blenkarne  with  300  Regulars  and 
Militia  and  6000  Akras  were  to  approach  Asante  through  Akem; 
and  His  Excellency  expected  all  these  forces  to  join  him  at  a  cer- 
tain point  before  he  could  meet  with  the  Asante  army. 

The  Eastern  division  under  Captain  Blenkarne  had  reached  Mam- 
pong  in  Akuapem  and  was  about  to  march  to  Akem,  when  they 
received  the  sad  news  of  the  defeat  at  Asamankaw.  The  camp 
was  immediately  broken  up,  and  the  troops  began  to  march'home. 
After  a  week's  preparation,  the  force  of  James  Town  under  chief 
Amnia  and  his  captains  started  first.  Captain  Blenkarne,  Mr.  Han- 
sen and  Mr.  Bannerman  were  among  them.  On  the  second  week 
king  Kudsha  Okai  and  his  chiefs  of  Dutch  Town,  having  appointed 
prince  Koi,  Dodu  Nyang,  Tete  Tshuru,  Akwete  Gbeke  and  Teko 
Owara    as    their    representatives,    also  started.     Then    came    chief 


Chapter  XV.  im 

Dowuona  of  Christiansbor^-,  who  was  appointed  by  kiijg- Owuo,  and 
some  detachments  ol*  Labade  and  Teshi.  Old  ^nns  of  some  of 
the  warriors  were  exchanged  for  new  ones  at  Winneba,  and 
the  whole  army  marched  to  Anomabo.  The  army  of  more  than 
()(X)0  men  received  subsistence  from  the  Government  ol  one  dollar 
each  per  week,  and  new  guns  were  again  distributed  here.  They 
proceeded  on  to  Cape  Coast,  where  Apea,  Tibo,  Adoko  and  all  the 
Fante  chiefs  had  sheltered  their  women  and  children;  themselves 
and  their  forces  were  encamped  in  the  interior  against  the  invaders. 
Major  Chisholm  with  the  organized  force  under  him  with  the  Akras 
joined  the  camp  of  the  Fantes  and  Dankeras.  Apea  and  the  Akras 
formed  the  right  wing,  Adoko  the  left,  and  the  Major  the  centre 
on  the  main  road  to  the  Pra.  After  four  days'  march  in  swamp, 
rain  and  hunger,  they  crossed  the  Pra.  On  one  Thursday  morning 
Adoko  sent  messengers  to  inform  the  army  that  the  enemy  had 
been  found  by  means  of  scouts.  The  march  was  resumed  imme- 
diately on  the  following  two  days.  Many  dropped  down  from  fa- 
tigue and  hunger.  At  last  the  enemj^'s  rear  was  perceived,  a 
position  which  could  have  enabled  them  to  defeat  the  Asantes.  But 
just  as  they  were  falling  in  to  commence  the  attack,  Apea  sent 
urgently  to  advise  the  Akras  never  to  open  any  tire  yet,  as  the 
Fantes  forming  the  left  wing  under  Adoko  had  deserted  their  post. 
They  proposed  a  hasty  retreat,  and  during  the  whole  ensuing  night 
groped  back  in  the  dense  forest  amidst  mud,  rain  and  hunger  to 
the  banks  of  the  Pra.  They  framed  floats  of  four  pieces  of  plan- 
tain-trees, upon  which  most  recrossed  the  river,  the  upper  part  of 
the  body,  the  gun  and  the  cartouch-belt  on  the  float,  and  paddling 
off.  Some  swam  across,  with  the  belt  tied  on  the  head  and  the 
left  hand  holding  the  gun.  Captain  Mensa  of  the  force  of  Otu-Street 
in  Akra  ferried  over  a  great  many  of  his  people,  and  perished  in 
the  waves  from  fatigue.  Above  one  hundred  of  the  Akras  were 
drowned  in  consequence  of  precipitate  crossing  during  the  night. 
The  Europeans  encamped  on  this  side  were  busy  till  Sunday  noon 
taking  over  the  panic-stricken  warriors. 

After  crossinof,  most  of  the  Akras  marched  to  the  battle-field  at 
Asamankaw,  and  witnessed  the  frightful  scene  there.  How  cruelly 
the  enemy  had  tied  or  nailed  the  poor  victims  alive  to  palm  and 
silk-cotton  trees !  Apea,  on  the  retreat  from  the  Pra,  was  attacked 
by  small-pox,  and  died  at  home.  He  was  first  brought  to  Cape 
Coast  Castle,    and  placed  under   tlie  kind  and  skilful  treatment  of 

lo 


194  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

the  European  doctorSj  who  did  all  in  their  power  to  save  such  a 
valuable  chief  as  he  was,  but  failed.  During  his  illness,  his  mother 
and  sister  Baduwa  asked  the  high  fetish  Nananorn  concerning  the 
state  of  his  health,  and  were  told  that  he  was  to  live  no  longer, 
because  the  spirit  of  his  elder  brother  Bafo,  whom  he  secretly 
murdered  under  pretext  of  suicide,  had  since  been  urging  on  the 
fetish  to  avenge  his  blood.  He  being,  however,  the  powerful  chief 
who  defended  the  country,  he  forbare  the  execution  of  his  brother's 
request,  but  now  he  must  die.  The  camp  with  a  small  store  of 
ammunition  at  Daboase  was  abandoned  through  the  confusion  of 
the  whole  army  after  the  river  had  been  recrossed.  On  the  2"*^ 
of  April,  Major  Ohisliolm  was  forced  to  retreat  from  the  Pra, 
and  the  Akras,  from  want  of  provisions,  escaped  one  by  one  to  their 
homes.  Mr.  Hansen,  chief  Amma,  and  his  captains  returned  to 
Cape  Coast. 

Tibo,  determined  to  light  the  Asantes  to  the  last,  kept  the  field, 
and,  with  the  native  forces  under  him,  attacked  them  at  Dompim 
on  the  25*'*  of  April.  Neither  party  seemed  to  obtain  great  advantage, 
Avhen  the  forces  from  Egwafo,  Aberemu,  and  British  Commendah 
came  behind  the  enemy,  which  made  w^ay  for  the  numerous  Wasa 
[trisoners  captured  at  Asamankaw  to  effect  their  escape.  The 
Asantes  turned  their  march  into  that  direction,  which  caused  the 
evacuation  of  Commendah  Fort.  Several  towns  were  plundered  and 
destroyed  by  them. 

Meanwhile  preparations  were  made  to  meet  them  again,  and  on 
tlie  21^*  of  May  a  stern  engagement  took  place  at  Afutu.  The 
Asantes  were  defeated,  but  many  of  the  Fantes,  frightened  at  their 
own  success,  fled  in  the  moment  of  victory.  The  English  were 
obliged  to  concentrate  their  forces  around  the  town  of  Cape  Coast, 
where  all  the  women,  children,  infirm  and  sick  from  the  interior 
hade  taken  refuge,  who  died  daily  in  great  numbers  from  hunger 
«nd  disease.  The  Government  did  their  utmost  in  giving  relief  to 
this  tumultuous  mass  of  distressed  people,  and  also  engaged  actively 
in  preparing  against  the  invaders,  by  converting  into  balls  any  kind 
of  available  metal,  either  from  the  roofs  of  houses,  or  the  stores  of 
merchants. 

While  these  preparations  were  being  made,  Osei  Yaw  Akoto,  the 
brother  and  successor  of  Osei  Bonsu,  who  had  reached  Manso  when 
the  late  battle  was  fought  at  Afutu,  joined  the  army  on  the  29*^ 
The  cause  of  his  appearance  on  the  field  was  this :  Forty  days  after 


Chapter  XV.  195 

the  llight  of  Kwadvvo  Tibo  from  Kiimase,  the  old  monarch  'died, 
and  his  brother  becoming  successor  could  not  ascend  the  stool  be- 
fore the  grand  funeral  custom  for  the  deceased  monarch  had  been 
made.  Nor  was  it  possible  in  the  absence  of  the  army.  Hence  a 
party  of  warriors  of  the  king's  body-guard,  about  6000  men  (some 
say  12,000)  was  organized,  headed  by  himself,  the  king  of  Dwaben, 
and  Yaw  Qsekyere  (who  had  recently  returned  from  the  invasion 
of  the  Krepe  country),  and  marched  into  the  Fante  country  to  recall 
the  army.  The  principal  captains  in  command  of  that  force  were 
Oteng  Kwasi,  Adu  Kwame,  Adu  Brade,  Amoa  Bata,  Apentento, 
and  Asamoa  Dehee.  When  they  joined  the  army,  a  grand  reception 
was  given  and  every  circumstance  connected  with  the  campaign 
was  reported,  yet  the  king  was  greatly  annoyed  that  Tibo  was  not 
as  yet  captured.  His  captains  arrogantly  and  officiously  swore  that 
they  would  catch  Kwadwo  Tibo  if  he  had  taken  shelter  in  the  body 
of  the  smallest  iish  Nkamfra  (a  small  flat  sea-fish  of  2"x4"),  or 
in  the  castle  of  Cape  Coast;  they  would  break  down  its  walls; 
and  if  their  bullets  were  too  slow,  they  would  outvie  their  speed 
to  catch  him!  They  proceeded  to  besiege  Cape  Coast,  whereupon 
a  few  marines  and  seamen  were  landed  from  the  British  man-of- 
war  and  some  merchant  ships,  numbering  less  than  400,  of  whom 
not  all  were  in  good  health. 

Hark,  'tis  the  ancient  story 

Of  wars  fought  by  our  forefathers, 

Their  battles  and  victory; 

Of  their  shoutings  and  their  bloodshed. 

To  sing  together  our  anthems 

In  praise  of  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy ! 

He  came  and  fought  the  battles 
For  the  blacks  he  did  never  know. 
He  came,  drove  the  Asantes 
With  courage  uncommonly  known. 
His  ammunition  failed,  but  yet 
With   his  sword  in  hand   he  did   fight. 

The  noble  son  of  Britain 

Fought,  but  the  natives  left  him   'lone. 

The  ground  upon  which  he  stood, 

He  kept  possession  of  to  death, 

Died,  yet  retain'd  the  possession 

In  a  living  attitude. 

13  * 


196  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

His  troops  were  put  to  the  sword, 

And  yet  himself  not  vanquished. 

At  Katamansu  he  rose ; 

His  spirit  defeated  Asante, 

Defeated  totally  for  ever, 

That  the  Gold  Coast  be  set  free. 


Jjiberty  hast  thou  obtained 
By  Britain's  dear  sacrifice. 
From  bonds  of  sin  and  Satan 
No  man  can  set  thee  free. 
To  thy  Redeemer  Jesus  turn, 
And  so  all  in  all  be  free ! 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

The  causes  that  led  to  the  battle  of  Katamansu. —  Defeat  of  Osei  Yaw  at 
Cape  Coast.  His  retreat  and  disorder  among  his  captains. —  His  accession 
to  the  stool,  and  preparation  for  an  invasion  to  reclaim  his  honour  — 
His  principal  captains.  March  for  invasion  and  incidents  in  camp  and 
on  the  coast.     1825 — 1826. 

After  the  death  of  the  noble  and  gallant  Sir  Charles  MacCarthy^ 
the  Asantes  closely  besieged  the  Fantes  and  Dankeras  who  had 
retreated  to  the  town  of  Cape  Coast.  The  bull-dog  for  the  European 
Governments  on  the  Gold  Coast  was  again  called  upon  to  appear 
on  the  field  of  battle.  From  March  1823  to  June  1824,  the  Akras 
have  five  times  been  in  arms  in  behalf  of  the  English  Government: 
at  Aburi,  Asikuma,  Mampong,  Daboase,  and  Cape  Coast. 

Colonel  Sutherland,  who  had  lately  arrived  to  take  the  command, 
immediately  sent  informations  to  Commandant  Blenkarne,  to  ask  the 
aid  of  the  Danish  Government  and  king  Okai  of  Dutch  Town.  Major 
Von  Richelieu,  the  Governor,  summoned  all  the  Danish  allies  from 
Christiansborg  to  Ada,  Akwamu,  and  Akuapem.  Captain  Oketeku 
arrived  from  Akwamu  with  a  force  of  120  men,  chief  Kwafum  from 
Aburi  with  the  chief  power  of  the  Akuapems.  His  Excellency  the 
Governor  distributed  arms  and  ammunition  to  every  warrior,  and 
appointed  the  Danish  officer  Mr.  Poulsen,  the  book-keeper,  who  w^as 
said  to  be  of  the  Royal  blood  of  Denmark,  with  about  50  Regulars, 
as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Danish  forces.  King  Ngtei  Dgwuona 
and   the   chiefs  of  Labade   and  Teshi  commanded  , their   respective 


Cliajiter  XVI.  197 

forces  under  tliis  officer.  King-  Kudsha  Okai  of  Dutcli  Town  joined 
in  person;  his  chiefs  Akwete  Krobosaki^  Akotia  Owosika,  Dodu 
Nyang  and  Tete  Tshuru  held  the  command  of  his  forces.  Dokuwa, 
tlie  queen  of  Akem,  on  hearing-  of  the  arrival  of  an  Asante  army 
under  captain  Kwaku  Biri  on  the  frontier  of  her  territory,  advised 
king-  Ado  Dankwa  not  to  march  ag-ainst  the  Asautes  who  had  be- 
sieged Cape  Coast,  but  to  come  with  his  forces  to  prevent  the  ene- 
my's march  into  their  country. 

About  the  first  week  in  July,  the  army,  estimated  at  about  15,000 
strong-,  marched  to  Winneba,  and  thence  to  Auomabo.  The  women 
and  children  of  the  place  had  taken  refuge  in  the  Fort  in  consequence 
of  Kwasi  Amankwa's  attack  on  Biriwa  a  few  days  before.  Old 
Adama  Pataku,  with  his  company  of  iron-hearted  men  of  Akra, 
[iroceeded  to  clear  the  enemy  from  the  forest  of  Fufumpo,  and  the 
whole  army  arrived  at  Cape  Coast  on  the  5*^>  of  July.  They  found 
lots  uftheFantes  dying  from  hunger  and  disease;  most  of  the  dead 
bodies  were  even  thrown  into  Paparata,  the  water  of  which  every 
body  was  obliged  to  drink.  From  Tuesda,y  the  6*^^  to  Friday  they 
were  engaged  in  clearing  off  the  bush  about  the  town,  to  obtain 
a  clear  view  of  the  enemy's  camp  and  have  a  free  ground  for 
action.  The  inhabitants  of  Cape  Coast  refusing-  to  assist  in  clearing 
off  the  bushes,  the  Akras  were  ordered  b^^  the  officers  on  Saturday 
morning  to  rush  into  their  houses,  and  take  possession  of  anything 
they  might  find  there.  Ptepeated  attempts  of  the  Asantes  upon  the 
line  met  with  effectual  opposition. 

On  the  11'^'  of  July  a  furious  attack  was  made  upon  the  lines 
by  the  whole  Asante  force,  but  signally  repulsed,  and  on  the  13**^, 
a  random  ball  from  one  of  the  guns  on  Smith's  Tower  having 
struck  the  king's  palanquin,  the  Asantes  retreated.  It  is  related 
that  an  Akra  man,  captured  during  the  heat  of  action,  was  asked 
by  the  king,  who  those  were  that  fought  so  bravely  and  fiercely 
against  him.  Being  told  they  were  Akras,  old  friends  of  the  Asantes, 
in  whose  blood  they  never  imbrued  their  hands,  whom  they  had 
often  defended  against  Fantes,  Akems,  and  Akuapems,  he  replied, 
^'Let  us  march  back  to  Kumase,  and  I  will  come  upon  them.'"  Thus 
the  siege  was  raised  and  the  whole  army  marched  back  to  Kumase. 

Another  cause  why  the  siege  was  raised  was  said  to  be  the 
annihilation  of  captain  Kwaku  Biri  of  Asante  Akem  and  his  forces. 
He  and  other  captains  with  their  forces  were  posted  on  the  boun- 
dary between  Akem  and  Asante,  wlien  Osei  Yaw  and  the  king  of 


198  History  of  the  Oolcl  Coast  and  Asante. 

Dwabeii  marched  into  the  Fante  countrj  to  recall  the  Asante  army 
in  pursuit  of  Kwadwo  Tibo. 

Ado  Dankwa  with  a  small  force  having  gone  in  aid  of  Dokuwa^ 
the  combined  forces  of  Akeni  and  Akuapem  attacked  the  Asante 
army  under  Kwaku  Biri  one  night  at  Asene,  and  exterminated  it, 
both  captains  being  killed.  The  fugitive  Asautes  brought  that  sad 
intelligence  to  Kumase  and  Dwaben,  and  the  whole  nation  was 
agitated,  expecting  an  attack  from  the  Akems  and  Akuaperas. 
Thereupon  Osewa,  mother  of  Boaten,  the  king  of  Dwaben,  imme- 
diately despatched  a  messenger  direct  to  Fante,  to  inform  her  son, 
who  was  besieging  Cape  Coast,  in  what  state  she  was.  He  therefore 
broke  up  his  camp  and  prepared  to  march  back.  Osei  Yaw,  desirous 
to  punisli  the  Fantes  before  leaving  their  country,  expostulated 
with  Boaten  on  the  subject;  but  lie  said,  "I  might  capture  1000  Fantes, 
if  I  were  to  remain,  but  arc  they  worth  my  mother,  whom  1  must 
in  the  first  place  protect?" 

The  army  was  suffering  from  the  ravages  of  small-pox  and  from 
want  of  provisions,  and  Osei  Yaw,  anxious  to  reach  Kumase,  hastened 
his  retreat  to  Bereonaase,  wliere  he  waited  for  the  chiefs  and  gen- 
erals of  his  army  to  impeach  their  conduct  at  the  battle,  and  to 
punish  them  for  cowardice.  This  brought  on  a  great  disorder  among 
the  captains,  some  of  whom  determined  to  shake  off  the  yoke  of 
Asante.  Even  the  roj'al  family,  among  whom  was  one  Akyiawa, 
a  woman  of  masculine  spirit,  with  several  mothers  whose  sons  had 
been  lost  in  the  campaign,  did  not  approve  of  that  inglorious  retreat, 
and  many  a  scoffing  song  was  heard  when  the  king  returned  to  his 
capital.  The  first  thing  he  did  on  his  arrival  was,  to  perform  the 
grand  funeral  custom  of  the  deceased  monarcii  Osei  Bonsu. 

After  the  king's  retreat,  the  Akras,  who  were  suffering  from  want 
of  provisions  and  had  lost  70  men,  prepared  to  retire  from  Cajte 
Coast;  but  the  English  Government  and  the  Fante  chiefs  were 
against  their  doing  so.  They  thought  the  Asantes  would  return 
again  to  repeat  the  attack.  All  the  remonstrances  to  retain  them 
a  few  weeks  longer  were,  however,  useless,  and  one  by  one  the 
warriors  left  their  chiefs,  which  obliged  them  at  last  to  return. 

Some  of  the  captains  of  Asante,  knowing  what  was  awaiting  them 
at  the  capital,  retreated  slowly  after  the  king,  and  then  resolved 
upon  breaking  out  at  once.  We  have  reasons,  however,  to  suppose 
that  the  battles  fought  at  Asamankaw,  Dompim,  Afutu,  and  Cape 
Coast,   had  fully  convinced   them    that  by  the   combined   efforts,  of 


Chapter  XVI  199 

the  British  Marhios,  Akias  and  Fantes  thej^  could  be  pi'utected  trom 
the  power  of  Asante,  which  power  they  had  perceived  was  on  the 
point  of  dechiiaiL;-,  whilst  the  power  of  the  Gold  Coast  tribes  under 
the  protection  of  the  White  Men  had  a  bright  future. 

Previous  to  Kwadwo  Tibo's  escape  from  Kumase  to  Dankera, 
he  informed  Dampong  Amoako  of  his  intentions.  After  that  Tibo 
Pan^'in  of  Asen  did  the  same.  Dokuwa,  after  having  declared  in 
favour  of  the  British  and  Danish  Governments,  sent  Afe  and  Akroma 
to  sound  the  mind  of  Amoako.  Upon  which  a  meeting  was  hekl 
privately  at  Pomaase,  where  Adae,  brother  of  Amoako,  Nuama, 
and  Odenkyem,  brother  of  cliief  Gyima  Yeboa,  represented  the 
Dampongs,  and  Ofori  Tiri  and  others  represented  queen  Dokuvi^a. 
They  made  a  convenant,  and  a  fetish  oath  was  taken  to  confirm  it. 

In  consequence  of  this  oath,  the  Dampongs  played  double  game 
in  the  battle  at  Asene,  so  that  the  king's  army  from  Kumase  under 
Kwaku  Biri  alone  suffered  greatly  and  he  was  killed. 

On  the  day  the  Kotokus  in  Dampong  and  the  districts  in  their 
jurisdiction  were  to  quit  the  place,  king  Dampong  Amoako,  fearing 
that  he  might  be  deprived  of  the  stool  of  Kotoku  on  reaching  Akem, 
as  he  was  of  the  Asona  family,  and  the  Kotoku  kings  of  that  of 
Agona,  —  he  with  a  small  retinue  retired  to  Agogo.  U[)on  which 
his  son  Afrifa  Akwada,  cousin  of  the  late  Kwadwo  Kurna,  was  made 
king.  With  900  armed  men  they  crossed  the  Pra  to  Kyebi.  The 
following  were  the  principal  chiefs  among  them :  Gyima  Yeboa, 
over  the  Pira  force;  Kwaku  Gyima,  Adu  Yaw,  Kwaku  Nfra,  Asante 
Du,  Apenteng,  over  the  Sodafo ;  Kwadwo  Kokrokb,  over  I  he  shield- 
force;  Ofvviedu  Gyenin,  Boapea  Nyame,  A])eaKwame,  DabraKunan, 
linguist  Adu  Koko,  Kwaku  Tia,  OkenT,  Aseni  Donipre,  Otebogso 
Tete,  Asubon  Kwadwo  Pong,  Dasawase  Adu  Kofi,  Mampong  Dwa 
Panj'in,  Okoasuo  Nyama,  Bamfo  Afosu,  Aberem  Koli  Tawia,  Adwan- 
nua  Ayedu,  Adewaseua  Ntiamoa,  Kotoku  Okye  Amoa,  Nkwateng 
xA-tewa,  Bontodiase  Yaw  Kwa,  Odomara  Ayerebi,  Adwafo  Odomara, 
Kokowaso  Odakwa,  Anyeraase  (Tyakari ,  Abase  Ofo,  Agyobue 
Odobere,  etc. 

A  grand  reception  was  given  to  all  of  them  at  Kvobi  by  Dokuwa, 
who  was  very  glad  to  have  received  back  all  her  relations  and 
advised  them  to  choose  a  capital  from  among  the  towns  of  Gyadani, 
Adasawaase,  Mmooso,  Mampong,  Dubi,  and  Asafo  Asen.  —  But  un- 
fortunately', while  still  at  Kyebi,  a  large  tree  was  blown  down  upon 
the  king  and  one  of  his  wives,  and  killed  them.    After  the  customary 


200  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

funeral  rites  had  been  performed,  they  retired  to  Gyadani.  Here 
the  nobles  and  chiefs  consulted  together  whom  they  should  elect  to 
succeed  the  late  king  Afrifa  Akwada.  And  without  informinti,-  Do- 
kuwa  of  their  intentions,  Agyemang-,  the  nephew  of  Kwakye  Ade- 
3'efe,  was  nominated,  who  was  then  at  Soadru  in  care  of  chief  Kwu- 
gje  Ampaw,   who  also  had  thrown  off  his  allegiance  to  Asante. 

Special  commissioners  were  despatched  by  the  chiefs  ofKotoku, 
viz.,  linguist  Adn  Koko,  Kwadwo  Kokrok6,  half  brother  to  Agyeniang, 
and  several  others.  After  a  fetish  oath  had  been  administered  to 
the  commissioners  and  three  peredwans  had  been  paid,  they  brought 
Agyeinang  to  Gyadam,  where  he  was  made  king.  A  better  selection 
could  never  have  been  made:  3'et  their  act  greatly  displeased  I)u- 
kuwa,  not  personally,  but  on  account  of  his  late  uncle's  conduct 
towards  the  royal  familj  of  Kotoku.  Hence  the  ill-feeling  which 
existed  between  them,  which  resulted  once  in  the  incarceration  of 
Agyemang,  originating  the  oath  ^'Agyemang-Dayemfoo,''  that  is, 
Agyemang"s  fetters,  and  a  quarrel  with  Ata  Obiwom",  inconsequence 
of  which  Agyemang  was  expelled  to  Soadru  in  April  1860. 

Kwadwo  Tibo  and  his  captains  were  the  first  refugees,  and  after 
the  battle  at  Cape  Coast,  the  following  chiefs  and  their  captains 
revolted  and  lied:  Agyemang,  Ampaw,  Amoakua,  Kwasi  Amankwa, 
Aboag3^e,  Kwa  Tenteng  and  others;  for  servitude  under  Asante 
was  really  terrible.  Those  kings  and  chiefs  took  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  British  and  Danish  Governments  and  entered  into 
alliance  with  the  kings  and  chiefs  on  the  Gold  Coast. 

On  his  accession  to  the  stool  as  king  of  Asante,  Osei  Yaw  resolved 
to  punish  the  Akras  for  having  assisted  the  Fantes.  The  late  king 
had  on  his  death-bed  exhorted  Osei  Yaw  never  to  take  up  arms 
against  the  white  men  on  the  coast.  The  king  of  Dvvaben,  knowing 
this,  earnestly  reminded  him  of  the  dying  father's  last  injunction, 
but  without  effect.  The  king  sent  to  ask  the  oracle  of  Tanno,  the 
chief  fetish  of  Asante,  as  a  dispute  had  broken  out  between  himselt 
and  the  white  men  and  Akras  on  the  coast,  and  he  wished  to  march 
down  and  settle  the  quarrel. 

He  was  in  reply  told  to  wait  till  Tanno  and  his  warriors  had 
been  to  the  coast  to  see  whether  the  king  should  march  down  or 
not.  A  few  weeks  later  Tanno  reported  his  return  from  the  coast, 
and  requested  the  king  to  have  100  pots  of  palm-oil  poured  into  the 
river  Tanno,  after  which  the  fetish  would  tell  how  he  had  found 
matters.     The   oil   was   accordingly   poured   into   the  river,    when 


Cliapter  XVI  201 

Tanno  said,  lie  had  becni  defeated  on  the  coast  by  Akra  fetishes, 
and  sustained  a  gi-eat  loss  in  kiUcd  and  wounded,  so  that  tlie  oil 
was  required  to  dress  the  wounds  ol'  his  warriors.  The  Iving  ougiit, 
therefore,  not  to  march  against  the  Akras.  Tlie  king,  enraged  at 
this  oracle,  sent  word  to  the  fetish  that  from  the  beginning  he  had 
been  no  fetisli  of  iiis  own,  but  became  his  by  right  of  conquest, 
lie  would,  however,  march  down  to  the  coast  and  bring  another 
fetish  to  Kumase.  Tanno  rei)lied,  that  he  might  go  down  if  he  chose; 
but  he  would  do  well  to  provide  himself  with  a  strong  horse  from 
the  interior,  make  iron  shoes  for  him,  and  be  sure  to  reach  Kumase 
from  the  coast  in  six  da_ys. 

Kranio  Koko,  the  head  Molianimedan  priest,  was  now  called  for, 
and  was  told  b,y  the  king  to  catch  for  him  the  chief  fetish  of  Akra. 
He  stayed  three  weeks  in  his  room,  without  eating  nor  drinking, 
and  then  said  to  the  king,  "I  have  done  my  l)est,  but  failed  to  catch 
any  of  the  Akra  fetishes.  They  have  driven  your  om'u  fetishes 
from  the  town  inland."  The  king  said  :  "You  are  a  coward,''  dis- 
missed him,  and  made  Adisa  head-priest. 

Boaten  also  sent  to  consult  the  oracle  of  Odente,  the  highest  fetish 
at  Karakye.  A  hot  mess  of  cassada  (or  roasted  flour)  was  placed 
in  a  dish,  with  another  dish  as  cover,  wrapped  up  in  cloth,  and 
sent  to  Dwaben  with  tliis  message:  "If  the  meal  is  cold  in  arriving, 
it  means  good  luck,  if  warm,  Boaten  will  smell  fire  on  tlie  coast.'' 
However  he  showed  him  what  sacrifices  to  make  on  leaving  Dwa- 
ben and  before  encountering  the  Akras.  The  meal  was  still  warm 
•on  reaching  Dwaben. 

The  king  made  the  necessary  preparations,  distributed  arms  and 
ammunition  to  all  his  warriors,  went  in  person  and  boiled  the  war 
at  Oserebooso.  After  that  he  went  through  the  outskirt  of  Kumase 
ito  Bantama,  poured  out  a  libation  to  the  spirits  of  the  deceased 
kings,  and  then  took  up  his  quarters  at  Dako.  The  next  day  he 
came  to  Santemanso,  the  first  town  of  the  Asantes,  before  Kumase 
was  built,  stayed  there  for  the  night,  and  then  proceeded  to  Kokofu. 
He  encamped  two  months  at  Sevvua  to  muster  the  troops.  To  pro- 
tect the  country  against  invasion,  he  left  three  captains  —  Bekwae 
Sei,  Kokofu  Asare  and  Amoafo  Sei  —  on  tlie  boundary  of  Dankera 
and  Asen. 

The  Asantes  and  their  tributaries  were  quite  reluctant  to  invade 
the  Protectorate  so  soon  after  their  inglorious  retreat  from  Cape  Coast. 

Ntedwa  of  Apemanim  and  Otibo  Kuma  I.  of  Atannosu,  kings  over 


202  History  of  the  Gold   Coiist  and   Asaiite. 

the  two  principalities  into  which  Asen  is  divided,  appointed  three 
messengers:  Prince  Andwa,  the  son  of  Ntedwa,  Kwasi  Dako,  and 
Apere,  to  inform  the  king  of  their  unwillingness  to  serve  in  this 
war,  unless  His  Majesty  would  grant  them  sufficient  time  lor  rest. 
The  king  replied,  "Let  them  join  my  enemies,  if  they  choose,  for 
I  can  get  hold  of  them!"  This  frightened  the  Asens  so  much  that 
they  instantly  crossed  the  Pra,  when  they  heard  that  the  king  had 
encamped  at  Sewua.  Ntedvva  with  his  family  remained  behind; 
he  had  secretly  informed  the  king  through  KwantvVi,  the  chief  of 
Adanse,  that  he  would  never  throw  off  allegiance  to  Asante,  and  had 
therefore  concealed  his  royal  stool  in  the  bush.  This  message  was 
conveyed  by  Bonsra,  brother  of  Kwantwi,  and  Kwaku  Sie,  who  were 
passing  up  from  Fante.  The  bearers  were  commissioned  by  the 
kino-  to  administer  a  fetish  oath  to  NtedvVa,  after  which  he  and  liis 
family  were  removed  to  Asante.  Prince  Gyebri  was  appointed  to 
succeed  Ntedwa  in  the  government  of  Apemanim.  He  and  Otibo 
Kuma  I.  with  their  forces  then  joined  the  allies  in  the  Protectorate. 

As  observetl  in  chapter  VHI,  theTshis,  more  especially  the  Asantes,. 
are  distinguished  from  other  tribes  of  the  Gold  Coast  by  the  regular 
organization  of  their  army.  It  consists  of  live  divisions:  the  king's 
body-guard,  the  van-guard  or  centre  force,  the  right  and  left  wings^ 
and  the  rear  or  reserve-guard. 

The  king's  power  is  absolute;  every  subject  is  considered  as  a 
slave.  The  king  appoints  every  captain,  and  can  at  pleasure  dismiss 
him  or  have  him  beheaded.  He  may  also  do  as  he  likes  with  the 
property  of  the  deceased  captain.  He  defrays  the  war  expenses, 
and  claims  one  half  or  one  third  of  the  spoil.  When  an  expedition 
is  to  be  undertaken  by  the  chiefs,  he  assists  tiie  warriors  to  a  certain 
extent  with  arms,  ammunition,  and  money.  But  the  chiefs  and 
captains  sometimes  borrow  extra  money  from  him,  which  they  have 
to  pay  back  with  the  spoil,  if  successful;  otherwise  the  amount 
must  be  collected  at  home. 

A  list  of  the  names  of  the  generals  and  captains  who  fought  under 
the  king  of  Asante  at  Katamansu  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

The  king  left  Sewua  and  camped  for  two  montlis  at  Bogyeseawu. 
The  king  of  Dwaben  had  delayed  by  the  tardy  reply  of  the  oracle, 
and,  by  his  want  of  zeal  for  the  expedition,  was  very  long  iu 
arriving;  and  when  at  last  he  came,  an  accident  happened  which 
nearly  led  to  the  outbreak  of  civil  war.  Boaten  one  day  came  to 
Kumase,    and  his  military  chest,  containing  1000  pored Vvans,  equal 


Cliapter  XM.  20^ 

to  \^^  8010.  13.  4.  sterling-,  was  audaciously  stolen,  but  no  trace  of 
the  thief  could  be  foun(i.  Boaten  was  on  the  point  of  declarin<> 
war  to  Kumase;  but  the  elders  of  Dwaben,  to  prevent  bloodshed, 
ottered  to  pay  him  the  amount,  which  they  did,  and  so  the  matter 
dropped.  A  gold  jewel  which  had  disappeared  with  the  royal  chest 
was  found  in  a  tuft  of  hair  on  the  head  of  one  Osei  Asen,  a  cour- 
tier of  the  king.  A  clue  to  the  theft  was  thus  obtained,  and  the 
king  of  Dwaben  claimed  the  stolen  property  from  Osei  Asen. 
But  the  king  did  not  support  the  course  of  Boaten.  The  elders  of 
Dwaben  had  again  to  interpose  by  saying:  "If  we  insist  upon 
claiming  that  lost  property,  and  civil  war  ensues,  we  might,  if  de- 
feated, tlee  to  some  other  country ;  but  then  what  would  become  of^ 
our  wives  and  children  at  home?  We  entreat  you,  therefore,  to 
forego  the  case!"  Aw]  thus  Boaten  had  to  yield. 

The  marching  out  of  the  Asantes  was  not  yet  known  in  the  south 
when  they  had  got  to  Sewua.  Agyemang  had  attacked  the  Okwa- 
wus  three  times,  and  burnt  Atibie,  Oboman,  Oboo,  and  other 
places.  But  fortunately  an  Akem  prisoner,  escaped  from  Oseibereso 
to  Akem,  warned  his  people.  Agyemang  now  gave  up  fighting 
with  the  Okwawus,  and  all  Akem  began  to  prepare. 

The  scouts  of  Dokuvva  had  meanwhile  managed  to  kill  some  of 
tlie  Asantes  and  brought  their  heads  to  Kyebi.  Their  jaws  were 
immediately  despatched  by  messengers  to  king-  Taki  with  a  request 
to  inform  the  Danish  and  British  governments  of  the  impending 
danger.  The  Akems  were  ridiculed  by  the  Akras  as  having  sent 
old  jaws  of  deceased  persons;  but  Governor  Brock  ordered  six 
soldiers  to  accompany  the  messengers  homeward  and  ascertain  the 
truth.  The  Akems  had  meanwhile  left  Kyebi  and  their  other  towns 
and  were  fleeing-  towards  Akuapem.  They  met  the  party,  and 
the  captains  Boapea  of  Kyebi  and  Akoi  of  Late  were  sent  along- 
with  the  soldiers.  At  Anyinasin  they  met  some  of  the  enemy 
foraging.  The  soldiers  tired  at  them,  killed  four,  captured  four,  and 
returned  to  the  Governor  with  the  prisoners  and  two  heads. 

There  could  now  be  no  doubt  of  the  threatening  invasion,  and 
rigorous  preparations  were  made  to  encounter  the  enemy.  His 
Excellency  Governor  Brock  distributed  arms  and  amnmnition  to 
all  the  subjects  of  His  Majesty  the  king  of  Denmark,  from  Christians- 
borg:  down  to  Ada,  the  river-side  people,  Osudoku,  Krobos,  Akwamus, 
Shais,  Akuapems,  and  Akems.  Extra  arms  and  ammunition  were 
given  to  all  these  people  by  the  British  government,  besides  which 


204:  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  A  saute. 

the  influential  native  merchants,  Hansen,  Richter,  Baunerman  etc., 
gave  to  all  those  warriors  what  was  the  general  custom  of  the  country. 
When  Akoto  the  king  of  Akwamu's  people  were  carrying  home  the 
ammunition  given  them  in  .Tames  Fort,  they  were  overheard  to  say, 
''We  have  conquered  the  enemy!"  which  meant,  that  they  had  ob- 
tained a  good  supply  of  ammunition  b}'  which  to  defeat  the  Asantes. 

A  very  unfortunate  affair  happened  at  Akra  during  tliose  critical 
days,  which  the  people,  with  their  superstituous  notions,  attributed 
to  the  magic  powei'S  of  Asante,  and  which,  but  for  the  interposition 
of  the  commandant  at  James  Fort,  might  have  led  to  great  dissension 
among  the  warriors  of  James  Town  and  Dutch  Town.  Sempe  Mensa 
was  keeping  one  of  his  female  slaves,  by  name  Bosumafi,  as  a  wife. 
A  certain  Mensa  Tshinakong,  not  knowing  this,  had  illegal  inter- 
course with  the  woman.  The  offended  husband  demanded  a 
heavy  tine  from  Tshinakong,  as  if  she  were  a  lawful  wife.  Evei-y 
body  advised  him  to  be  lenient.  Old  Tete  Osabu  too  advised  him 
to  think  of  the  future  and  never  demand  so  much.  Yet  Sempe 
Mensa  rejected  all  advice,  and  fined  the  offender  24  heads  of  cowries 
(equal  to  ^^5.8  at  that  time),  wliich  was  the  price  of  a  slave,  and 
was  then  considered  a  very  large  sum.  A  few  weeks  after,  Mensa 
Tshinakong  missed  a  castrated  sheep.  Upon  search,  the  sheep  was 
found  in  the  stable  of  Sempe  Mensa;  it  had  been  brought  there  by 
his  son  Abeka.  Having  obtained  a  fact  in  hand,  Mensa  Tsliinakong 
also  now  demanded  400  heads  of  cowries  (about  ^'^  90),  as  tine  for 
the  theft  committed;  but  Sempe  Mensa  refused  to  pay.  An  action 
was  taken  by  swearing  upon  the  attacking  band  of  James  Town 
to  claim  tlie  amount  from  the  chief.  But  the  defendant  refused 
to  appear  before  the  com])an_y;  consequently  the  assistance  of  another 
attacking  band  of  Abora  quarter  was  obtained  by  the  attacking 
l)and  of  James  Town,  and  having  redoubled  their  strength,  the  court 
was  held  at  Sakumotshoishi.  In  giving  verdict,  the  jury  did  not 
agree.  The  chiefs  wished  to  justif^^  the  defendant,  but  the 
company,  the  plaintiff.  The  foreman,  being  on  the  side  of  the  com- 
pan^',  gave  judgment  against  Sempe  Mensa.  Thereupon  he  was 
enraged  and  left  the  court  with  his  quarter's  people  with  contempt. 
The  companies  painted  the  right  arm  of  the  plaintiff  with  white 
clay  (a  sign  of  being  justified),  placed  him  on  the  shoulders  of  one, 
and  paraded  through  the  town,  dancing. 

Sempe  Mensa  and  the  people  of  his  quarter  had  preconcerted  to 
fight   the   company,   in    case    they    should   pass    througli  the  street 


Chapter  XVII.  205 

insultingly.  The  dancing  company  at  last  reached  Seinpe's  ([uarter, 
when  all  at  once  one  Kpakpo  Tshuni  tired  at  the  company,  one 
woman  being-  killed  and  several  wounded.  Instantly  the  company 
resorted  to  arms,  and  fighting  commenced.  Loopholes  had  been  made, 
the  previous  day,  in  the  houses  at  Sempe;  their  sharpshooter,  Pobi 
Oboakora,  had  been  called  from  his  plantation,  and  posted  himself 
on  the  gallery  of  Sempe  Mensa.  The  company  were  assailed 
furiously  and  had  several  Ivilled  and  wounded.  The  sharpshooters 
of  the  compan}^,  Adshiete  and  Mensa  Adshoe,  discovering  the 
position  of  Pobi  Oboakora,  fired  at  him,  and  he  was  killed.  The 
soldiers  were  ordered  from  James  Fort  for  the  apprehension  of 
Sempe  Mensa,  which  ended  the  struggle.  Judgment  was  given  in 
favour  of  the  plaintiff  at  the  court  of  James  Fort,  and  the  defendant 
was  heavily  fined. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  old,  women  and  children  of  Akem  and  Akuapem  obtained  refuge 
at  Akra. — Concentration  of  the  tx'oops  at  Akra. — The  first  and  second 
encampments. 

The  king  of  Asante  spent  40  days  at  Bogyeseaiiwo  in  drilling 
the  whole  army,  which  amounted  to  about  40,000,  beside  women, 
children,  and  load-carriers.  Wherever  they  camped,  they  calculated 
on  plunder.  All  splendid  houses  at  Akra  and  Christiansborg  were 
portioned  out  among  them  beforehand.  The  army  proceeded  to 
Bereonase,  and  thence,  driving  the  Akems  before  them,  through 
Kwaben,  Asiakwa,  and  Asafo  to  Kukurantum,  where  they  stayed 
for  a  week,  and  then  proceeded  to  Adweso,  where  they  remained 
for  about  40  days. 

The  chiefs  of  Akra  obtained  from  a  fetish  priest  some  injurious 
war-charm  which  was  performed  on  the  enemy  at  Adweso  by  two 
Akems  and  two  men  from  Abnri,  named  Ntow  Kwabena  and  Kofi 
Bosompra. 

The  enemy  now  marched  on  to  Nkwapranase,  Bampo's  village, 
Amanokurom,  and  Afwerease.  Their  guide  was  Owusu  Akem  of 
Akropong. 

The  king  calculated  to  attack  the  Akras  from  the  east,  so  as 
to  prevent  their  escaping  to  Little  Pope  (as  they  had  done  formerly 
in  their  wars  with  the  Akwamusl,  to  drive  them  to  the  west,  and 


'206  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

thence  to  lead  both  the  Fantes  and  Akras  captive  to  Kumase.  An 
Akuapem  man.  captured  by  the  Asantes,  informed  them  that  the 
whole  army  of  Akra  had  encamped  at  Dodowa. 

Another  incident  happened  at  Manfe,  which  might  have  caused 
■confusion  in  the  enemy's  army.  Osei  Asen  one  day  ordered  the 
big  drums  to  be  beaten,  and  danced  through  the  camp  with  his 
thumb  stretclied  up  in  sign  of  mockery.  The  king  of  Dwaben, 
informed  of  this  insulting  conduct,  vowed  to  behead  Osei  Asen, 
"though  he  had  seven  heads  on  his  body",  if  he  presumed  to  enter 
his  quarters.  Report  was  brought  to  Bantama  Wua,  who  swore 
the  Koromante  oath,  that,  while  he  was  general  of  the  van,  Asante 
should  not  be  ruined  by  men  like  Osei  Asen.  Forthwith  he  ordered 
his  people  to  seize  those  drums,  and  thus  peace  v^'as  restored  in 
the  camp. 

As  the  appearance  of  a  lion  rouses  all  the  beasts  of  the  wilderness, 
thus  the  march  of  Osei  Yaw  caused  a  lively  stir  among  the  whole 
population  of  the  Gold  Coast.  When  he  camped  near  Kyebi,  every 
body  was  agitated.  The  Akems  and  Akuapems  fled  to  the  south. 
Their  women,  children  und  infirm  were  removed  to  Christiansborg 
and  Akra;  but  some  stayed  in  the  forests  of  Onyase,  Kwabenyan 
and  Kpokpoase,  where  the  Akems,  like  "bush  crabs",  as  they  are, 
managed  to  conceal  them,  or  else  in  the  bushes  near  Akra.  In  the 
itowns  every  inch   of  land  was  occupied  by  Akems  or  Akuapems. 

Akoto,  the  king  of  Akwamu,  and  his  captains  and  warriors  arrived 
at  Akra;  Kwadwo  Tibo  and  his  captains  and  brave  troops,  Aboagye 
in  iron  mail  and  helmet,  Kwamena  Asamanin,  the  king  of  Agona, 
and  captains  came  on  ;  Obropo  Akotia,  the  king  of  Cape  Coast,  had 
commissioned  chief  Bani  with  a  small  force  of  the  priestly  band 
under  captain  Kobena  Manfoi;  two  companies  came  from  Winneba, 
and  Mr.  Hutchison  came  in  command  of  a  small  party  of  Anomabo. 

The  principal  merchants,  Messrs.  Hansen,  Bannerman  and  Richter, 
had  drilled  their  own  household  people  and  slaves,  and  formed  a 
militia.  Mr.  Bannermann  being  absent  in  Europe  for  the  benefit 
•of  his  health,  Mr.  Jackson  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  people. 

The  British  officials  in  command  of  the  whole  army  were,  Major 
Piirdon,  the  governor  of  Cape  Coast  Castle,  as  commander-in-chief, 
Captain  Kingston  at  the  head  of  about  60  British  marines,  and 
Messrs.  Jackson  and  Hutchison.  The  militia  under  Messrs.  Hansen, 
Jackson  and  Richter  was  near  600  strong,  carrying  with  them  the 
aiewly  invented  congreve  rockets  and  two  brass  onc-pounder  field- 


Chapter  X\'II.  207 

]ii6ces.  All  the  kings  and  chiefs  who  had  to  join  the  army  were  sworn 
on 'a  fetish  by  king-  Taki,  to  render  faithful  services  to  the  British 
government,  as  well  as  to  the  king.  Tliey  also  invoked  the  fetish  to 
Itring  judgment  upon  any  one  daring  to  deliver  them  up  to  the  king 
of  Asante  for  the  sake  of  peace,  in  case  the  campaign  should  fail. 

King  Taki  and  his  chiefs  met  every  day  at  Amuginaor  Sakumotsoishi 
to  arrange  everything  necessary'  for  the  campaign.  He  was  repeatedly 
advised  by  the  Tshis  to  appoint  one  of  the  ablest  kings  general  of 
the  van,  as  that  was  the  most  important  point  in  making  war  with 
tlie  Asantes.  Impressed  with  his  own  importance,  the  king-in-chief 
of  all  the  Danish  subjects,  and  therefore  commanding  half  of  the 
army,  Kotei  Dgwuona,  required  in  the  council  to  be  appointed 
general  of  the  van.  Chief  Akwete  Krobo  Saki  of  Akra  with 
<?liaracteristic  boldness  replied,  ''We  mean  to  go  and  tight,  but  not 
to  display  riches.  You  better  leave  us  alone  to  command  our  own 
van.  Osei  never  meant  to  tight  the  Danes  or  English,  but  the  Akras, 
and  w^e  are  the  Akras."     This  settled  the  question. 

On  the  22"^  of  July,  after  due  preparations,  two  native  Danish 
soldiers  were  despatched  to  report  to  His  Excellency  Governor 
Brock  the  proceedings  of  the  campaign.  Carl  Ludwig  had  marked 
the  guns  of  every  warrior  with  a  small  piece  of  calico  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  enemy.  The  troops  were  commanded  to  leave  the 
towns  to  encamp  against  Osei  Yaw  Akoto.  The  troops  of  Ningowa, 
Toma,  Poni,  and  Prampram  refused  to  encamp  with  the  main  body. 
Tliey  determined  never  to  leave  the  roads  to  their  towns  unprotected. 
This  little  force  of  only  70  armed  men  not  yielding  to  the  demand 
of  the  Governor,  the  other  towns  also  stayed  away.  And  we  are 
to  this  very  day  indebted  to  the  people  of  Ningowa  for  what  we 
<leemed  at  first  obstinacy.  Had  they  removed,  which  would  have 
induced  others  to  follow,  the  vast  army  would  have  sat  at  Onyase, 
and  the  enemy  could  easily  have  executed  his  design.  The  whole 
army  was  estimated  to  be  50,000  strong.  Most  of  them  had  been 
partially  drilled,  and  their  arms  inspected  by  the  Danish  and 
English  officers. 

Major  Purdon  with  the  regulars  and  militia,  king  Taki  and  his 
forces  wnth  Kwadwo  Tibo,  Tibo  Kuma,  Kwasi  Amankwa,  Kwamena 
Asamanin  and  their  troops,  encamped  at  Onyase,  Governor  Brock 
with  a  body-guard  of  about  fifty  soldiers,  with  Dgwuona  and  Akoto, 
at  Okamfra,  (Abloadshei),  king  Saki  at  (Jyeadufa,  king  Ofori  at 
Pantang,  queen  Dokuwa  and  Ado  Dankwa  at  Kpohkpo. 


208  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

Every  one  of  them  was  ex[)ecting'  the  Asaiites  would  come  down 
by  the  main  road  to  Akuapem.  The  Akras,  who  are  so  conliding,- 
in  their  fetishes,  obeying  their  orders  as  if  they  were  their  generals, 
remained  for  eleven  days  at  Onyase  with  the  few  white  men,  whose 
power  seemed  to  be  limited  on  account  of  their  small  number. 

King  Dowuona,  perceiving  that  the  army  was  not  properly 
encamped,  remonstrated  with  king  Taki,  and  so  did  Dokuwa  and 
kiny-  Saki  of  Labade,  but  without  elfect.  So  on  the  2nd  of  Auirust 
Dowuona  removed  his  camp  with  the  purpose  of  marching  directly 
to  Katamansu  with  all  the  Danish  forces  under  his  command.  On 
reaching  Oyeadufa,  his  people  entreated  him  to  stop  there,  that  no 
blame  might  be  attached  to  him,  in  case,  by  fighting  with  only 
half  of  the  warriors,  the  fortune  of  the  day  might  not  be  theirs. 

Fortunately  for  the  credit  of  Dowuona,  an  Asante  prisoner, 
carrying  the  head  of  another  Asante  killed,  was,  on  the  3rd  of 
August,  brought  into  the  village  by  four  men  of  Prampram,  under 
the  command  of  Mr.  Carl  Grinstrup,  a  native  Danish  soldier  of 
Christiansborg.  The  party  had  caught  the  Asantes  plundering  a 
plantation.  The  king,  having  assembled  his  warriors,  asked  the 
prisoner,  ''Where  is  your  master  marching  to?  and  when  will  he 
remove  the  camp?"  The  prisoner  replied,  "to  Tema,  in  about  three 
days,  and  if  you  were  the  king  of  the  Akras,  you  should  make 
haste  to  meet  my  master  before  it  be  too  late!'  Messengers  were 
sent  to  king  Taki,  who  instantly  broke  up  his  camp  and  advanced 
to  Oyeadufa.  On  the  4th  of  August  all  the  troops  assembled  at 
the  village.  The  kings  and  chiefs  were  sworn  in,  and  became  united 
as  one  man.  A  council  of  war  was  held  how  to  meet  the  enemy, 
who  had  encamped  on  the  plains  of  Sasabi,  and  could  reach  Tenia 
by  a  nine  miles'  march.  It  was  proposed  that  the  Akuapems,  being 
well  acquainted  with  their  own  forest,  should  send  out  some  scouts. 
Chief  Apagya  Kofi  of  Adukrom  was  proposed;  but  he  flatly  declined 
saying,  ''It  is  no  play  to  spy  an  army  of  Osei;  should  I  venture 
it,  I  might  be  lost  with  my  men ! "  The  next  proposition  was,  that 
each  division  of  the  army  should  take  its  line  and  march  directly 
from  Oyeadufa  to  the  plains  of  Sasabi,  the  Akuapems,  on  the  flank 
of  the  left  wing,  to  march  through  the  forest  along  the  foot  of  the 
Akuapem  mountains. 

Captain  Male  of  Labade,  a  resident  of  Amarahia,  objected  to  that 
proposition  as  dangerous.  "I  will  be  the  first  to  morrow",  he  replied, 
"to  go  ahead  and  direct  you  where  to  encamp".     Being  a  hunter, 


Chapter  XVII  209 

he  had  cut  a  pathway  alonti,'  the  plain  for  hunting  purposes.  On 
the  niornino-  of  the  5th  of  August  Male  called  several  young  men  of 
his  company  to  the  main  road  leading  from  Amarahia  to  Sasabi. 
This  road  they  completely  obstructed  by  dense  masses  of  sharp  briers. 
Standing  here,  Male  directed  the  whole  army  to  march  on  his  path- 
way to  the  plain.  Had  he  not  done  so^  the  army  would  have  taken 
the  main  road  to  Sasabi,  and  not  been  prepared  in  their  divisions 
and  lines;  a  total  rout  would  have  ensued  without  a  single  shot. 
Grinstrup  and  Male  deserve  praise. 

The  dust  raised  by  the  marching  army  was  seen  by  the  enemy, 
who  said,  ''A  large  force  has  come  into  the  field.''  The  marching 
continued  the  whole  day  and  night.  Every  warrior  was  oidy 
provided  with  sufficient  rounds  and  small  victuals;  on  that  account 
the  warriors  were  anxious  to  take  the  field  as  soon  as  possible  to 
return  home.  The  following  day,  being  Saturday  the  6th  of  August, 
they  completed  their  encampments  according  to  their  towns  along 
the  coast.  The  Temas  were  removed  from  their  first  camp  east- 
wards, which  position  was  reoccupied  by  Dgwuona.  The  force  of 
Teshi  joined  that  of  Akra,  but  was  detached  behind  the  Labades. 
Governor  Brock  with  his  bodj^-guard,  Mr.  Lutterodt,  Mr.  Aarestrup, 
Messrs.  Hans  Holm  and  Engman,  encamped  with  the  king  of 
Christiansborg. 

The  Asante  army  counted  about  40,000  warriors,  12,000  forming 
the  centre,  10,000  the  right  wing,  8,000  the  left,  8,000  the  rear  and 
2,000  the  reserve  or  the  king's  body-guard.  A  force  to  meet  such 
a  division  as  the  van  must  be  that  of  Dutch  and  James  towns, 
Christiansborg,  Labade,  and  Teshi,  as  well  as  the  regulars  and  mi- 
litia. Kwadwo  Tibo  commanded  the  left  wing,  having  all  Dankera, 
Asen,  Fante  and  Agona  forces  under  him.  Akoto,  king  of  Akwamu, 
commanded  the  right  wing,  having  Akwamu,  Akem,  Akwapem, 
Ningowa,  Tema,  Adangme  forces,  and  the  river-side  people  under 
him.  Major  Pardon  with  part  of  the  regulars  and  militia  formed 
the  rear.  MessVs.  Hansen  and  Richter  inspected  the  whole  line 
of  the  army ,  arranged  everything  and  encouraged  every  king, 
chief,  and  warrior.  The  same  day  the  Asante  monarch  sent  his 
sword-bearers  in  disguise  as  Akwamus,  and  inspected  the  whole 
position  and  line  of  the  army.  Their  report  to  the  king  was:  'Tt 
is  known  and  acknowledged  that  the  forest  belongs  to  the  elephant, 
else  we  could  say  the  buffalo  is  also  on  the  plain.  Nothing  suits 
better    than   your   majesty's   own    presence  to   assume   the    whole 

14 


210  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

coio.maiid,  for  an  army  is  in  the  field.'"  A  war  council  was  instantly 
convened,  whom  the  king  addressed  thus,  "I  have  called  jou  to- 
gether to  hear  for  yourselves  the  report  from  the  enemy's  camp. 
It  is  therefore  my  wish  and  command  that,  as  we  come  to  fight 
on  the  [ilains,  you  should  give  up  the  mode  of  commanding  your 
troops  in  3'our  baskets.  Every  chief  or  captain  must  to-morrow 
lead  on  his  troops,  giving  command  in  the  proper  manner,  that  the 
fortune  of  the  day  be  ours  and  not  doubtful."  It  was  said  that 
this  advice  was  given  to  the  king  by  the  linguist  Adu  8ei  Tsha- 
tsha,  and  for  that  reason,  when  he  returned  to  Kumase,  for  some 
little  otfence  he  was  ordered  to  be  stoned  to  death  by  boys. 

A  council  of  war  was  also  held  by  the  Akras,  in  which  they 
said,  ^'To-morrow  we  must  fight  the  enemy,  catch  them,  and  go 
home;  we  liave  bL\t  a  limited  store  of  provisions,  having  left  the 
large  supply  in  the  first  camps." 

There  was  a  strong  movement  that  evening  in  the  hostile  camp 
and  that  of  the  Akras.  They  approached  within  musketshot  distance, 
abusing  each  other,  and  then  retired  to  the  camps.  The  Akras, 
while  marching  back,  started  and  killed  a  buffalo.  The  advance- 
guard  under  Yaw  Opense,  wliose  fashion  it  was  to  carry  one  thou- 
sand torches  with  him  for  an  attack  in  the  night,  prepared  to  do 
so  in  the  silence  of  the  night;  but  the  monarch  objected  saying, 
^T  never  fight  at  night;  wait  till  morning,  when  I  shall  show  myself 
to  them.  Should  they  even  flee  into  the  belly  ofKamfara  (a  small 
sea-fish),  I  shall  catch  them!'' 


CHAPTER  XV III. 

The  battle  and  victory. —  Plundering  the  camp. —  Retreat  of  Osei  out  of 
the  Protectorate. —  Triumphant  return  of  the  different  troops. —  Enor- 
mous wealth  poured   into  the  Protectorate  by  the  victory. 

August  7,  1826. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  7^'^  of  August,  the  warriors  washed 
themselves  and  made  stripes  of  white  clay  on  their  persons.  The 
special  war-drums  of  the  king  were  beating,  Perempe,  perempe! 
Kom,  kom !  Akoto  and  Kwadwo  Tibo,  who  were  familiar  with  these 
war-drums,  sent  information  to  king  Taki,  advising  him  to  have 
the  warriors  in  readiness,  as  the  field  would  be  taken  immediately 
by  the  enemy.    Captain  Kingston,  Messrs.  Hansen  and  Richter,  paid 


Chapter  XV III.  211 

a  tlying  visit  in  the  camps,  and  strengthened  the  hands  of  the 
■warriors.  Orders  from  the  head-quarters  reached  them  while  on 
their  visit,  to  return  as  hastily  as  possible.  The  kettle-drum  of  king 
Taki  was  beating,  Nkranpon,  wose  a,  eye  du,  ketekere,  dom  a  enni 
anianfo!  Monka  ntoa,  mdnka  ntoa,  moiikantoa!  i.e.  The  great  and 
durable  Akra,  who  perform  what  they  say,  not  subject  to  destruc- 
tion, get  to  arms,  get  to  arms,  get  to  arms!  Likewise  the  sound 
€f  the  enemy's  kettle-drum  was  heard  to  beat,  "Asante  Kotokg ! 
kum  apem  a,  apem  beba;  monka  ntoa,  monka  ntoa,  m6nka  ntoa!" 
i.e.  Asante  porcupine  (or,  emancipated,  purchased,  absconded),  when 
thousands  are  killed,  thousands  will  come,  get  to  arms,  get  to  arms! 
King  Dowuona,  on  seeing  the  enemy's  advance-guard  having 
i:rept  forward  in  the  front  of  his  line,  thought  they  were  Akras; 
he  ordered  his  captain  Abose  Kwaw  to  clear  them  off.  But  he  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  with  his  aid-de-camp  Adshei  Oba- 
dsheng,  was  caught  and  killed;  his  head  was  sent  to  the  king,  with 
that  of  the  aid-de-camp.  The  king  placed  his  feet  three  times  on 
the  head,  gave  a  smart  pat  on  the  head  of  the  youth,  and  said, 
"Sit  down  here  before  me,  and  soon  your  father  and]^mother  will 
be  brought  to  you!"  k^-^ 

The  women  in  camp  and  those  at  home  had  since  the  marching 
out  of  the  warriors  each  assumed  the  dress  and  tools  of  her  hus- 
band and  imitated  his  work,  dancing  in  company,  and  singing  to 
keep  the  spirits  of  the  husbands  lively  in  camp.  One  of  their 
•war-songs  is: 

I :  Mmanini-mma,  miinso  'tuo  mu !  : 
King  biirofo  se,  munya  ko  a,   mobeko." 
|:  Mmanini-mma,   miinso  txio  mu  !  : 

I :  Sons  of  heroes,  get  hold  of  your  guns !  :  | 

The  King's  white  men  say,  When  you  get  to  fight,  you  will  right ! 

(When  the  war  breaks  out,  you  will  be  able  to   fight!) 

i:  Sons  of  heroes,   get  hold  of  your  guns!  :| 

•One  of  the  war-songs  of  the  enemy  is: 

Agya  See  6,  Agya  See  o,  Awira  See  5 ! 
One  ne  mmerante  ko  sa  kgfa  nnommum  bebre. 
Agya  See  5,  Agya  See  o,  Awira  See  o! 
0  father  Sei,  hurra !  0  master  Sei,  hurra ! 

To  catch  plenty  prisoners  he  is  gone  forth  with  his  youths  to  war. 
O  father  Sei,  hurra !  O  master  Sei,  hurra  ! 

14* 


212  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

There  was  a  gorgeous  display  of  different  flags,  and  a  deafening 
noise  of  horns,  drums,  and  war-cries.  While  the  two  armies  were 
drawn  up,  two  Numidian  cranes  (or  horn-blowers  of  Sakumo,  as 
they  are  superstitiously  called)  flew  with  the  noise  of  a  bugle  througli 
the  camp  of  the  Akras,  who  welcomed  this  as  a  good  omen,  as 
their  high  fetish  Sakumo  had  passed  to  inspect  their  position.  After 
which  a  loud  voice  was  heard  from  the  line  of  the  Asere  people, 
saying,  "We  are  about  now  to  pour  in,  brethren!"  Another  voice 
responded  from  the  line  of  the  Gbese  people,  "Wait  till  all  the  col- 
ours have  reached  the  same  line  of  the  column!"' 

The  Akras  commenced  the  battle  by  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry, 
which  forced  the  enemy  to  fall  back.  Every  remonstrance  of  the 
captains  to  their  forces,  not  to  take  prisoners,  but  rather  to  fight 
on,  was  disregarded.  At  last,  they  headlessly  rushed  on  the  Ko- 
ronti  and  Akwamu,  the  well  organised  veteran  force  of  Asante,. 
who  drove  them  back  clean  to  their  camps.  It  was  the  most  crit- 
ical moment.  The  battle  seemed  to  be  deciding  itself  in  favour 
of  the  enemy.  Chief  Aiikra  of  Akra  proposed  to  chief  Kwatei 
Kodsho  that  they  should  blow  themselves  up  with  powder,  but 
was  exhorted  by  him  to  wait  till  he  heard  of  the  right  wing.  One 
of  the  English  officers  proposed  to  fire  his  pistol  into  the  ammu- 
nition store  to  prevent  the  enemy  from  capturing  it,  but  was  ad- 
vised to  have  a  little  more  patience.  Mr.  Hansen  had  the  narrow- 
est possible  escape  from  being  taken   prisoner.     A  field-piece   was 

captured  by  prince  Kwame  Ankyeafoo,  but 

Mr.  Hansen  speedily    recovered    it    by    a 

discharge  which  caused  great  havoc  in  the 

line  of  the  enemy.   Sergeant  .James  Kittson 

sent  in  a  rocket  which  blasted  some  pounds 

of  gunpowder  in  the  line  of  captain  Opoku 

Fredefrede,  and  killed  several,  himself  being 

severely  wounded.  The  enemy  was  thrown 

into  confusion.    One  of  the  Asante  captains 

shouted,  "Obubuafo  nso,  wode  no  ye  den? 

Miinnuom  1"  i.  e.    For  what  use  else   is  a 

lame  thing  (meaning  the  field-pieces)?  for- 

Mr.  Richter.  ward!     The  army  took  advantage  of   the 

enemy's  confusion,   and   furiously    attacked    them  with  knives   and 

hatchets.     Mr.  Richter,   being  mortally  wounded  in    the  thigh,  was 

advised  by  the  commander-in-chief  to  retire   to    town,    so  he  rode 


Chapter  XVIH.  213 

home.  The  coimnaiider-iii-cliief,  Major  Purdon,  coiiLributed  much 
to  the  success  of  the  day. 

At  that  moment,  Akoto,  the  commander  of  the  ric^ht  wing,  wlio 
had,  for  some  reason  of  his  own,  hitherto  kept  quiet,  ordered  his  large 
state-umbrellas  to  be  moved  towards  the  eneni}^  as  if  to  desert  to 
his  side,  and  all  at  once  attacked  the  rear  violently,  Just  the  mo- 
ment Nabera,  the  brave  captain  over  his  force,  had  fallen.  The 
combined  forces  of  Prampram,  Ningo,  Ada  and  river-side  people 
followed  up  the  attack,  and  it  became  most  critical.  The  monarch 
himself  marched  in  defence  with  his  body-guard,  stood  upon  the 
royal  stool,  and  drew  the  war-sword  towards  heaven  and  earth, 
as  kings  usually  do  in  war,  but  the  rebound  was  too  strong,  and 
lie  got  wounded.  There  happened  a  collision  between  the  monarch's 
body-guard  and  the  forces  under  Opoku  Fredefrede,  which  greatly 
weakened  the  enemy.  On  that  account  the  general  afterwards 
poisoned  himself  and  died  at  Asafo.  Dshani,  Afutu,  and  Ante  from 
Teshi  are  said  to  have  then  uttered  the  religious  war-cry:  Awo, 
Awo,  Awo!  to  which  every  warrior  of  tho  whole  column  respond- 
ed as  one  man,  Awo,  Agbai,  bereku  tso!  A  loud  voice  was  heard 
on  the  enemy's  line,  "Edom  agu  o!"  The  battle  is  lost!  Then  all 
the  baggage  w^as  hastily  thrown  on  a  heap  as  high  as  a  mountain, 
and  the  enemy  took  to  flight,  after  having  fought  and  kept  their 
position  for  9  good  hours,  from  0  a.  m.  to  3  p.  m.  Prisoners  were  made, 
and  then  the  baggage  and  camp  were  taken.  The  king  effected  a 
narrow  escape  with  a  good  number  of  his  body-guard  through  the 
right  wing  of  his  army,  and  left  the  Akras  victorious  on  the  field 
of  battle. 

Most  of  the  pusillanimous  men  among  the  forces  of  Winneba  and 
Bereku  tied  from  the  battle-field  at  the  first  discharge  from  the 
enemy,  and  left  their  king  Ayerebi  with  his  own  body-guard  and 
Oyankuma  with  his  men.  They  disgraced  themselves  all  the  more 
by  allowing  Akra  women  to  snatch  away  many  a  gun  from  tlieir 
liands,  when  passing  the  towns.  The  undecided  Kwasi  Amankwa 
also  deserted  and  went  over  with  the  view  to  surrender  himself, 
but  was  captured  and  cut  to  pieces;  others  believe  that  he  was  not 
deserting,  but  was  caught  while  bravely  engaged  in  fighting.  It 
is  said  that  the  king  asked  him,  when  captured,  "Akwasi,  what 
have  I  done  to  you  that  you  have  joined  my  enemies  to  fight 
against  me?"  To  which  he  replied,  "Nana,  woye  boawu,  madi 
wakyi  mabere !"  which  is,  To  cooperate  with  you,  king,  is  death. 


214  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

I  have  grown  tired  of  following  you!  —  His  people,  however^ 
managed  to  capture  his  remains,  which  they  conveyed  to  the  banks 
of  the  river  Densu,  and  there  buried.  On  their  way  they  are  said 
to  have  murdered  several  Akras  and  Akems.  When  peace  was 
restored  in  the  country,  his  people  again  removed  the  remains  to 
Asen.  Kwamena  Asamauin,  who  could  easily  have  captured  the 
monarch  of  Asante,  was  coward  enough  to  let  him  escape  saying,. 
"One  should  not  allow  himself  to  be  overrun  by  an  army  of  A- 
santes",  and  the  monarch  took  shelter  under  the  shade  of  a  large 
tree.  While  taking  his  rest  there,  he  had  to  witness  the  capturing 
of  his  wives,  daughters,  and  other  relatives,  as  well  as  all  his  royal 
badges,  state-umbrellas,  gold-hilted  swords,  jewels,  and  the  military 
chest  containing  thousands  of  gold  cartouches  filled  with  gold-dust 
instead  of  powder.  Even  their  god,  the  golden  stool,  was  left  on 
the  battle-field.  While  most  of  the  army  were  plundering,  a  select 
band  of  warriors  under  Apea  Dwa  set  out  to  overtake  and  capture 
the  monarch.  While  Akoto  and  the  Adas  were  fighting  bravely 
to  take  possession  of  the  golden  stool,  Nkuntrase  Antwi  was 
gallantly  fighting  to  rescue  it,  when  Boaten,  retreating  from  the 
right  wing  to  the  spot,  asked,  "Where  is  my  uncle?'"  Antwi  replied, 
"He  is  retreating"'.  —  "'Was  he  going  along  with  the  god  (meaning 
the  golden  stool)?"—  "No!  lam  just  fighting  to  get  possession  of 
it."  Assisted  by  Boaten's  troops,  Nkuntrase  managed  to  secure  the 
stool,  and  brought  it  to  the  king  of  Dwaben. 

The  brave  Apea  Dwa  met  his  end  unexpectedly  by  an  ambus- 
cade; his  men,  however,  instantly  took  revenge  on  those  parties. 
The  detachment  brought  his  body  to  camp  at  half  past  6  p.  ni., 
which  brought  the  campaign  to  a  close  for  that  day. 

Among  the  very  few  prisoners  caught  by  the  enemy  was  one 
Mensa  from  Manfe,  a  court-crier  of  king  Ado  Dankwa,  known  as 
brother  to  one  Ako,  who  assured  Osei  that  he  could  conduct  him 
safe  to  Kumase,  and  was  promised  by  the  king  to  be  made  a  cap- 
tain of  high  rank,  if  he  succeeded  in  doing  it.  He  guided  the  king 
from  the  battle-field  through]Amarahia,  Damrobe  up  to  Obosomase, 
and  thence  to  Mampong;  there  he  met  Boaten  with  other  fugitive 
Asantes.  The  retreat  went  on  precipitately  to  Adweso,  where  they 
tried  to  halt,  but  were  carried  along  by  the  rushing  mass  of  fugitives. 
Here  Mensa  effected  his  escape  with  his  hands  pinioned  behind, 
and  roaming  in  the  forest  for  some  days,  he  fortunately  came  to  a 
village  belonging  to  Adnkrom  people,  and  finding  two  Asante  fugitive 


Chapter  XVIII.  215 

women,  he  ordered  them  to  loose  liim,  after  which  he  brouglit 
them  home  as  prisoners. 

At  Asafo  in  Akem  the  kin*^,  Boaten  and  several  of  the  chiefs 
halted,  thinking-  that  the  danger  was  over,  and  the  single  sheep 
they  had  managed  to  bring  along  with  them  was  sold  by  Boaten 
to  the  king  for  ^7.4.0.  Meanwhile  a  detachment  of  Akems  under 
Kofi  Aberantee  arrived,  whose  wives  and  children  had  in  the  Akra 
bush  been  captured  by  Ata  and  Ata,  the  twin-brother  Asante 
captains.  The  Akems,  allowing  the  fugitives  time  to  cook  and 
prepare  that  sheep,  fired  among  them,  and  compelled  them  to  tlee 
with  great  loss.  At  Asantewa  the  fugitives  were  again  attacked 
by  four  brothers,  Aboagye,  Namhene,  Gyima,  and  Apea  Hene.  They 
were  bold  hunters  and  succeeded  in  rescuing  their  only  sister  O- 
foriwa,  who  had  been  taken  prisoner  on  the  battle-field.  A  third 
detachment  of  Akems  under  Kwabena  Edu,  Bankye,  and  Apea  Nti, 
likewise  pursued  the  king.  At  Apedwa  they  heard  he  had  left 
Asafo.  They  met,  however,  jthe  wounded  prince  Owusu  Ansa  A- 
penteng,  riding  on  a  horse,  and  slew  him.  Apea  Nti  pursued  the 
king  as  far  as  Bogu  and  then  gave  it  up.  The  fugitives,  marching 
day  and  night,  reached  Akem  Akropong.  Here  they  were  safe  and 
could  take  rest. 

At  Sewua,  Boaten  is  said  to  have  delivered  the  golden  stool  to 
the  king,  shortly  after  which  three  messengers  from  the  captains 
who  had  been  left  to  protect  the  country,  arrived,  with  the  follow- 
ing message,  "We  have  been  sent  by  your  Majesty's  captains, 
viz.,  Bekwai  Sei,  Kokofu  Asare  and  Amoafo  Sei,  to  give  their 
compliments  to  the  king  and  their  congratulations  for  fighting,  and 
state  that  they  sympathize  deeply  with  your  Majesty's  troubles 
and  losses!  They  desired  us  to  ascertain  whether  the  rumours  they 
had  heard  were  true  or  false,  —  whether  your  Majesty  has  brought 
back  the  god,  if  otherwise,  to  be  informed  so  as  to  march  down 
to  the  place  where  the  god  is,  and  warm  themselves  with  the  lire 
which  is  reported  to  have  been  kindled  there  and  is  burning!" 
The  king  replied,  "I  have  brought  it  with  me."'  They  replied,  ''We 
could  not  dare  to  ask  this  by  ourselves,  but  we  were  expressly 
requested  by  your  Majesty's  captains  to  be  allowed  to  have  a  look 
at  the  stool!"  It  was  brought  before  them.  Then  they  said,  ^'Nana, 
we  have  seen  it",  and  reported  the  same  to  the  captains. 

The  king's  intention  was,  to  go  in  company  with  Boaten  to  Kum- 
ase;    but  he  declined   and  said,    "One  should  not  be  put  to  shame 


21G  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

twice,  it  would  not  do  to  be  ashamed  at  Kumase,  and  after  that 
at  Dwaben.  They  thereupon  parted.  Reception  was  given  to  the 
king-  of  Dwaben,  but  the  king  entered  the  capital  unperceived.  He 
only  sent  his  compliments  to  the  chiefs  and  informed  them  that 
he  w^as  arrived,  but  too  unwell  to  receive  them.  He  sent  for  Gyan- 
fiwa,  mother  of  Yaw  Osekyere,  and  comforted  her  for  the  loss 
of  her  son,  promised  to  support  her,  and  gave  her  four  slaves  and 
four  peredwans.  According  to  reliable  reports,  the  king  stayed  four 
or  six  months  at  Sewua,  attended  the  wounded  and  the  sick, 
appointed  new  captains  for  those  who  had  fallen  in  the  battle, 
before  he  appeared  in  the  capital  and  met  with  a  grand  reception. 
Adu  8ei  Tshatsha,  the  renowned  linguist  ofKumase,  was  stoned  to 
death  by  mere  boys  for  being  suspected  of  an  intrigue.  Kwadwo 
Tibu  met  some  Asante  traders  at  Cape  Coast,  whom  he  took  tor 
servants  of  Adu  Sei  Tshatsha.  In  conversation  with  them,  he  let 
out  the  whole  secret  of  his  escape  from  Kumase,  that  it  was  through 
the  kindness  of  Adu.  He  sent  presents  and  an  old  tinger-ring,  a 
sign  of  their  intimate  friendship,  by  them  to  the  old  linguist,  by 
which  he  was  detected.  He  was  also  said  to  have  been  the  chief 
instigator  of  the  king  to  make  war  with  the  Akras.  The  boys  who 
were  allowed  to  stone  him  to  death  also  complained  that  he  was 
the  cause  of  their  having  become  orphans  and  fatherless. 

The  forces  under  the  twin-brother  captains,  Ata  and  Ata,  who 
could  have  done  great  injury  to  the  war-dancing  women  and  children 
in  the  towns,  were  kept  back  from  doing  it  by  the  orderly  beating 
of  the  big  drums  by  mere  women  in  every  town  along  the  coast. 
They,  however,  killed  several  persons  on  the  roads  to  the  towns 
and  in  some  villages.  The^'  put  fire  to  the  town  of  Berekuso, 
captured  70  Akem  women,  harbouring  in  the  forest  near  Kwabe- 
nyan,  and  were  marching  off  with  them  in  triumph.  The  Akems 
under  Kofi  Aberantee  and  others  pursued  them,  and  rescued  their 
^^  ives  and  children.  Of  the  70  prisoners  they  brought  only  30  to 
Kumase. 

Having  followed  the  king  of  Asante  in  his  inglorious  retreat  up 
to  Kumase,  we  should  turn  our  course  again  to  the  field  of  battle. 
During  the  night  after  the  battle  the  mournful  groanings  of  the 
Avoundcd  and  dying,  of  men,  women,  and  children,  were  heard. 
They  cried  for  water  and  food,  calling  out  most  piteously  for  help 
and  deliverance.  Oh!  the  horrors  and  carnage  of  war!  The  Akras 
postponed  till  Thursday  the  10^''  of  August  reconnoitring  the  battle. 


Chapter  XVIII.  217 

field,  on  which  about  six  thousand  corpses  were  lying-  unburied. 
The  Akras  got  many  prisoners  and  valuable  spoil;  but  the  principal 
amount  of  booty  was  gathered  by  their  inferiors. 

Of  all  the  battles  fought  by  the  Asantes  since  the  establishment 
of  their  kingdom  none  had  ever  proved  to  them  so  fatal  as  that  of 
Katamansu.  The  monarch  had  lost  sixty  of  his  generals,  chiefs,  and 
captains.  But  few  of  the  commanders  escaped  with  himself  and 
Boaten.  It  was  God  in  heaven  who  mercifully  defended  our  coun- 
try. But  our  deluded  people  attributed  the  victory  not  only  to 
their  tetishes,  but  also  to  every  cartilaginous,  spinous,  and  testa- 
ceous creature  in  the  sea,  which  they  consider,  to  the  present  day, 
as  warriors  of  their  fetish  Nai  (the  sea)  and  suppose  to  have  taken 
part  in  the  engagement  and  even,  in  some  instances,  to  have  got 
wounded  at  that  time. 

The  loss  on  the  side  of  the  army  was  comparatively  small.  There 
were  five  captains  of  renown  who  fell,  Nabera,  Abose  Kwaw,  Tete 
Okogyeatuo,  Krote,  Kwasi  Amankwa.  Our  loss  on  the  whole  in 
killed,  wounded,  and  missing  amounted  to  1800. 

The  troops  of  James  Town  sustained  a  heavy  loss  of  99  men 
captured  and  killed,  which  has  been  attributed  to  several  causes. 
Some  say  :  through  the  force  of  Christiansborg,  which  in  the  general 
falling  back  of  the  whole  army  was  somewhat  repulsed  a  few  yards 
below  the  line.  If  that  were  the  cause,  the  force  of  Gbese,  which 
was  next  to  that  of  Christiansborg,  should  have  sustained  the  loss, 
and  not  that  of  James  Town.  Others  say,  it  was  from  some  of  the 
Fantes,  who  fled  at  the  first  discharge  from  the  enemy.  We  may 
arrive  at  the  truth  by  saying:  in  the  general  confusion,  the  James 
Town  troops  may  have  either  advanced  beyond  the  general  line, 
or  may  have  retreated  a  little  backward,  and  the  line  being  broken, 
the  enemy  took  advantage  of  that  to  attack  them  from  behind. 
The  force  of  Gbese  and  the  right  wing  of  Christiansborg  were 
expert  and  manly  in  joining  their  line  again  when  it  was  broken 
by  the  first  general  falling  back,  otherwise  the  latter  might  have 
suffered  a  similar  loss. 

The  Akras  being  religious  in  their  way  and  less  blood-thirsty, 
spared  many  of  their  prisoners.  The  different  contingents  of  the 
army  marched  back  in  triumph  to  their  respective  towns,  where 
the  warriors  were  enthusiastically  received  by  their  wives  and 
friends.  They  spent  several  days  in  merriment,  and  offered  thanks- 
giving oblations  to  the  fetishes.     During   those   days  of  merriment 


218  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  A&aute. 

tlie  warriors  used  to  go  out  in  bands  to  the  battle-field,  where- 
some  picked  up  wounded  men  whom  they  carried  home  and  cured, 
and  others  obtained  different  kinds  of  valuable  spoil. 

August  and  September  being  the  months  of  the  year  on  which 
the  Akras  celebrate  their  yearly  feast,  the  one  in  1826  was  un- 
commonly grand. 

Tete  Akosem  and  his  brother  Mensa  Okotokuo  of  Christiansborg 
captured  Oti  Panyin,  a  captain  and  first  class  linguist  of  Kuma,se, 
and  brought  him  home  alive.  Akoto,  hearing  that  his  former  per- 
secutor of  Kumase  had  been  captured,  bought  him  for  double  the 
price  requested,  took  him  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  lagoon  Krote^ 
and  there  barbarously  killed  him.  His  manner  of  death  supplied 
a  name  for  the  word  ''target",  so  that,  when  soldiers  have  target 
practise,  people  say,  they  are  shooting  Oti. 

The  Angulas,  owing  a  grudge  to  the  Akras  on  account  of  the 
Danish  expedition  in  1784,  had  shortly  before  the  battle  brought 
their  canoes  to  the  banks  of  the  Volta  to  catch  the  fugitive  Akras. 
After  waiting  for  several  days,  they  heard  of  our  success  and 
shamefully  retreated. 

Shortly  after  the  battle,  it  was  rumoured  that  presents  would  be 
forwarded  from  England  to  all  the  kings  and  chiefs  for  their  good 
services.  They  were  expecting  these  presents  until  December, 
when  a  large  man-of-war  arrived  at  the  anchorage.  An  English 
officer,  it  must  have  been  Sir  N.  Campbell,  came  on  shore,  and 
requested  to  be  shown  the  field  of  battle.  Mr.  Richter  with  some 
others  accompanied  him.  They  spent  a  few  days  there  inspecting^ 
the  place,  and,  as  reported,  the  officer  was  disgusted  at  the  sight 
of  so  many  corpses  lying  unburied  on  the  field,  and  hurt  the  fee- 
lings of  the  party  by  saying:   'Tou  killed  them  too  much."' 

The  spoil  taken  from  the  Asantes  is  believed  to  have  been  wurth 
several  thousands  of  pound  sterling.  The  Ningo  and  Ada  forces, 
which  attacked  the  rear  of  the  enemy,  plundered  the  largest  a- 
mount  of  gold-dust.  But  the  deluded  people  of  Ada,  who  were 
forbidden  the  use  of  that  precious  metal,  had  to  exchange  it,  at  a 
great  loss,  for  cotton  goods  and  cowries.  Kwaku  Kpotehara,  an 
Ada  on  his  father's  side,  resident  at  Christiansborg,  had  captured 
a  large  amount  of  gold-dust,  which  he  served  out  by  handfuls  to 
buy  various  trifles,  and  knocked  off  the  dust  that  stuck  to  his  fingers. 
Many  grew  veiy  rich  in  the  country,  and  up  to  this  day  there  are 
in  some  families  remnants  of  the  booty,  which  they  have  converted 


Cbaptei-  XVIII.  219 

into  fetishes  and  worship.    After  the  battle  of  Katainausu  gold-dust 
became  the  principal  currency  of  the  country. 

The  name  of  ^'Akra"  now  became  famous;  their  influence  spread 
far  and  wide,  and  they  were  respected  everywhere.  Their  former 
enemies,  Fantes,  Akems,  Akwamus  and  Akuapems,  bowed  to  them^ 
respected  them,  and  their  prestige  was  even  acknowledged  at  A- 
sante  and  Dahome.  They  obtained  riches  by  traffic  in  distant, 
countries,  and  strangers  came  down  to  the  coast  for  the  purpose  of 
commerce.  The  Fantes  who  had  not  joined  in  the  battle,  chiet 
Ayi  and  linguist  Dshang,  both  of  Akra,  were  commissioned  by  the 
king  to  collect  tribute  from  them,  which  also  became  a  source  of 
income  to  the  chiefs  of  Akra,  But  we  are  very  sorry  to  say,  the 
Akras  have  not  acquired  till  now  the  spirit  for  ruling,  hence  they 
allowed  that  line  opportunity  of  asking  reasonable  tribute  from 
those  chiefs  they  had  under  them,  to  slip  from  their  hands.  Hence 
there  is  no  revenue  whatever  running  into  their  treasury.  Their 
kings  and  chiefs  will  ever  remain  poor,  or  even,  when  rich  at  their 
accession,  will  yet  grow  poor  by  having  to  spend,  but  nothing  to 
gain.  They  will  at  last,  as  the  people  grow  more  civilized,  give 
up  the  title  of  kings  and  chiefs,  or  when  their  position  as  chiefs 
is  beneficial  to  the  English  Government  in  helping  to  keep  up 
peace  and  order  in  the  colony,  some  stipends  will  be  allowed  them 
to  live  by,  from  the  large  revenue  j'ielded  by  the  colony. 

Well  done!   Victorious  Ga, 

Thou  great  and  durable  Akra 

Not  subject  to  desolation ! 

For  thy  words  are  truth  and  ten. 

Thy  troubles  many,  thy  patience  long, 

Not  forgotten  yet  revenges. 

Not  minding  splendour  and  pomp, 

Yet  thy  nature  is  as  a  rock. 

Hardy  and  strong,  yet  born  peaceful. 

Enemies  from   North  and  South, 

From  East  and  West,  stood  aghast. 

Who  came  in  their  pride  to  touch  thee. 

But  thy  strength  lies  not  in  thee, 

Neither  in  thy  Sakum  or  Nai ; 

But  in   God,  unknown  by  thee. 

And  in   thy    white  Protectors. 

When  united,   thy  strength   will  grow, 

And  more  glorious  shalt  thou  be! 


220  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Establishment  of  Schools  by  the  European  Governments  on  the  Gold 
Coast. —  Count  Zinzendorf's  attention  drawn  towards  the  propagation 
of  the  Gospel  on  the  Coast. —  Arrival  of  the  Moravian  Missionaries 
and  their  deaths. —  Major  de  Richelieu's  negotiation  with  the  Committee 
of  the  Basel  Mission  on  the  propriety  of  beginning  a  Mission  work. — 
The  first  Missionaries  and  the  difficulties  accompanying  their  work. — 
Excellent  plans  of  the  Mission  and  its  progress. — ■  Arrival  and  estab- 
lishing of  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Mission,  the  North  German  Mission, 
and  the  Anglican  Church  Mission. —  Effects  of  these  Missions  on  the 
different  Tribes  on  the  Gold  Coast.     About  1720—1890. 

How  far  the  Portuguese,  w^ho  are  said  to  have  catechised  and 
baptized  their  slaves  before  shipping  them  off,  succeeded  in  what 
they  did  during  tiie  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  towards 
the  education  of  the  Natives,  cannot  be  traced.  Even  if  they  in- 
troduced their  religion  among  the  Natives,  it  was  so  much  mixed 
up  with  idolatry  and  fetishism,  that  no  vestige  is  left. 

About  the  other  settlers  —  Dutch,  Danes,  and  English,  we  have 
traces  of  education  given  only  at  their  head-quarters.  It  vvas 
mainly  for  the  children  begotten  by  them  in  the  country  (their 
children  sent  out  to  Europe  for  education  excepted),  but  not  for  the 
general  public.  The  Danes  and  the  Dutch  seem  to  have  done  more 
towards  education  than  the  English;  yet  the  latter  were  more  liberal 
in  their  views  of  imparting  education,  in  this,  that  the  educated 
were  employed  to  hold  positions  according  to  their  abilities,  whilst 
the  former  had  only  one  object,  i.  e.  to  enlist  them  as  soldiers  and 
nothing  else.  Hence  the  whole  country  was  lying  in  an  Egyptian 
darkness  of  barbarism  and  superstition.  The  gleamy  light  of  Chris- 
tianity shone  only  among  the  officials  of  the  different  governments 
on  the  Coast  by  the  soldiers  and  the  Mulatto  ladies,  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  Holy  Supper  among  that  small  circle  of  believers  in 
that  age  could  never  affect  the  vast  populations  outside  the  pale  of 
governmental  employ.  Oh!  that  an  Evangelical  Mission  had  settled 
earlier  in  the  country,  to  preach  Christ  and  to  shed  the  Gospel  light 
in  this  dark  region!  But  our  God,  who  would  have  all  men  saved, 
had  not  forgotten  this  part  of  Africa,  He  was  preparing  a  people  to 
be  sent  out  in  due  time.  He  had  brought  peace  into  the  country;  three 
years  after  the  great  war  between  Akwanm  and  Akra,  and  again 
two  years  after  the  great  battle  fought  at  Dodowa  between  Asante 
and  Akra,  the  Lord  sent  out  messengers  of  peace  into  the  country. 


Chapter  XIX.  221 

Tlie  Moravians,  who  called  themselves  "Uiiitas  Fratrum"  or  ''the 
United  Brethren",  founded  a  colony  of  emigrants  from  Moravia, 
where  the  Roman  Catholics  had  persecuted  them,  under  the  zealous 
Count  Zinzendorf,  on  an  estate  of  his,  called  Berthelsdorf,  in  upper 
Lusatia,  now  part  of  the  Kingdom  of  Saxony,  in  the  year  1722, 
To  this  colony  the  name  of  Herrnhut  was  given.  Through  the  zeal 
and  success  of  this  colony  of  believers,  several  colonies  on  the  plan 
of  the  parent  church  were  established  in  different  parts  of  Germany, 
England,  Holland  and  America.  The  energetic  Count  Zinzendorf 
met  a  West  Indian  negro  at  Copenhagen,  which  led  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  mission  in  the  small  Danish  island  St.  Thomas,  West 
India.  The  first  two  Moravian  missionaries  were  sent  to  the  Negro 
slaves  there  in  the  year  1732.  Others  were  sent  to  Greenland,  in 
1733;  to  the  Red  Indians  in  North  America,  1734;  to  the  Negro 
slaves  in  Surinam,  Dutch  Guiana  in  South  America,  1735;  to  the 
Hottentots  in  South  Africa,  173();  to  Jamaica,  1754;  and  afterwards 
to  various  other  islands  and  countries.  It  pleased  our  merciful 
Lord  to  direct  His  devoted  servant  Count  Zinzendorf,  in  whose 
heart  was  kindled  love  and  zeal  also  for  the  salvation  of  Africans 
on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  to  meet  one  Protten  at  Copenhagen 
in  the  year  1735. 

By  the  suggestion  of  Governor  Hendrik  von  Suhm,  then  in  com- 
mand of  the  Danish  settlements  on  the  Gold  Coast,  Pastor  Schwane, 
who  acted  in  the  capacity  of  a  Chaplain  on  the  Coast  during  a 
period  of  six  years,  was  instructed  to  bring  two  Mulatto  youths  of 
the  Government  school  to  Copenhagen  to  be  educated  at  the  expense 
of  the  Government.  Two  youths  were  selected,  but  one  of  them 
being  prevented  by  illness,  Protten  took  his  place.  So  he  and  the 
other  youth  were  brought  to  Denmark  in  the  year  1727.  The  mother 
of  Protten  appears  to  have  been  a  daughter  of  king  Ashangnio, 
who  emigrated  to  Popo  in  1680;  and  his  father  a  soldier  in  the 
castle  of  Christiansborg.  On  the  11^^  of  November  1727,  Protten 
was  baptized  in  Copenhagen  and  got  the  name  "Christian  Jacob". 
He  began  to  study  in  1728 — 1732.  In  1735  he  was  asked  to  return 
to  his  native  country,  but  found  no  confidence  to  do  so,  when 
fortunately  he  met  Count  Zinzendorf  in  Copenhagen,  and  after  eight 
days  intercourse  with  him,  he  expressed  a  desire  to  become  a  mis- 
sionary. In  July  1735  he  accompanied  Zinzendorf  to  Herrnhut,  where 
the  case  was  laid  before  the  Society.  Henry  Huckuff  was  appointed 
by    the    Conference    to   accompany   Protten    to  Africa   as   the    first 


222  .  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asantc. 

Moravian  wiissionaries.  Zinzeudorf  proceeded  with  Protten  to  Holland 
and  got  passage  for  them.  In  March  1737  they  set  sail  for  Africa, 
and  arrived  at  Elmina  on  the  11*^  of  May.  It  was  the  intention 
of  the  Society  first  to  etablish  their  Mission  at  Elmina  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Dutch  Government.  But  on  their  arrival  at  Elmina, 
Protten  proposed  coming  to  Akra,  and  his  brother  missionary  was 
obliged  to  accompany  him  down.  But  35  days  after  their  arrival  in 
the  country,  poor  Huckuff  tound  his  grave  at  Akra  the  15*^  June  1737. 

In  September  Protten  went  to  see  his  relations  in  Popo.  There 
he  was  kept  against  his  will  and  did  not  return  before  October  1739. 
From  this  time  up  to  1762,  he  never  was  perofianently  employed 
dn  direct  missionary  work,  nor  settled  in  one  place.  In  1741  he  re- 
turned to  Germany.  In  1743  he  made  a  trip  to  St.  Thomas,  returned 
to  Germany  in  1745  and  married  there  a  pious  Mulatto-lady,  the 
widow  of  a  Moravian  missionary,  on  the  6*^^' June  1746.  He  longed 
to  go  to  the  Gold  Coast  again;  but  as  the- Elders  of  the  community 
of  the  Brethren  had  no  confidence  to  send  him,  he  alone  went  to 
Copenhagen-  and  in  1766  undertook  his  second  journey  to  the  Gold 
Coast  with  good  recommendations,  to  become  a  catechist  or  assistant 
chaplain  and  schoolmaster  in  Fort  Christiansborg.  When  the  vessel 
reached  the  African  coast  at  Grand  Junk  on  the  Grain  Coast  (now 
Liberia)  on  the  lO*'^  of  February  1757,  fever  and  other  reasons 
compelled  him  to  go  ashore.  He  stayed  there  15  weeks,  and  one 
month  later  got  to  Christiansborg,  where  he  was  well  received 
(28.  June)  b,y  Governor  Jessen.  He  wrote  letters  to  Herrnhut  begging 
for  missionaries  and  for  news  from  the  Brethren  and  his  wife.  On 
account  of  an  accident  he  was  sent  back  to  Europe  (July  1761) 
and  came  to  Herrnhut  (February  1762).  In  March  1763  he  was 
consecrated  by  the  Elders  of  the  Conference  in  Herrnhut  to  go  out 
to  Africa  for  the  third  time,  with  his  wife.  But  when  they  had 
come  to  Holland  and  every  thing  seemed  to  be  ready,  the  journey 
and  the  whole  plan  were  frustrated  by  a  series  of  adverse  circum- 
stances, so  that  at  length  he  repaired  to  Copenhagen  and  again 
resumed  his  former  employment  under  the  Danish  Government 
from  1764  to  1769,  24*^  of  August,  when  he  died  at  Christiansborg. 

In  March  1767  the  Directors  of  the  Danish  Guinea  Company  in 
a  very  kind  letter  begged  the  Elders  of  the  United  Brethren  to 
send  missionaries  to  the  Gold  Coast  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
natives  there  and  make  them  orderl}^,  faithful,  and  diligent  people 
as  those  on  the  three  Danish  islands  in  West  India. 


Chapter   XIX.  223 

In  .kuic  17<)7,  after  liaviiig  asked  tlie  Lord  wluit  to  do*..for  Africa, 
-and  being'  encouraged  to  hold  on,  the  Elders  of  the  Conference  in 
Herrnhut  resolved  to  send  five  missionaries.  These  were  Jacob  Meder, 
Daniel  Lemke,  Gottfried  Schultze,  Signiund  Klellel  and  Samuel  Hall. 
The  conference  laid  the  case  before  the  authorities  in  Copenhagen, 
during  which  time  the  Danish  African  Trading  Company  surrend- 
ered their  charter  over  to  the  Crown.  All  necessary  arrangements 
were  made.  The  missionaries  arrived  at  Copenhagen,  November  2"^, 
and  went  on  board  December  30"^,  but  severe  frost  prevented  their 
sailing-.  On  March  29"',  1768,  they  went  on  board  again,  on  April  4*'* 
they  set  sail  and  arrived  at  Christiansborg  on  July  5*'',  joyfully  re- 
ceived by  Governor  Franz  Kyhberg,  by  Protten  and  his  wife,  and 
th'e  natives.  But  before  Brother  Meder  with  two  others  could  go  to 
Ningo  to  select  a  place  for  their  settlement,  the  fever  seized  one 
after  another,  and  three  of  them  were  called  to  their  eternal 
rest,  Schulze  in  August,  Meder  and  Lemke  in  September.  Only 
Hall  and  Kletfel  recovered.  Chaplain  Miller,  who  had  come  with 
them  from  Copenhag-en,  proved  a  true  friend  to  the  brethren  in 
their  distress,  and  Protten  also  with  his  wife  did  their  best  in 
attending  the  sick. 

When  the  sad  news  reached  Europe,  the  Society  did  not  lose 
courage;  although  it  was  a  heavy  affliction,  yet  four  missionaries 
were  sent  out  again.  They  were:  M.  Schenk,  R.  Bradly,  S.Watson 
and  Westman;  the  latter  was  only  to  accompany  the  rest  to  the 
(xold  Coast  and  then  return  home  to  report  of  the  state  of  the 
country.  In  October  1769  they  left  Copenhagen,  and  after  15  weeks 
arrived  at  Christiansborg  on  February  9"^,  1770,  greatly  welcome 
to  the  two  brethren  and  Protten's  widow.  Governor  Gerhard 
Wrisberg  soon  presented  them  to  Obiri  Korane,  the  king  of  Akem, 
who  came  to  visit  him  in  the  fort  and  showed  himself  willing  to 
receive  two  of  the  brethren  in  his  country.  Schenk,  Bradly,  Hall 
and  Watson  started  on  March  9**^  to  Ningo.  They  bought  a  piece  of 
land  and  began  to  build  their  station;  at  the  same  time,  they 
preached  and  taught  the  people;  Westman  and  Kletfel  remained  at 
Christiansborg.  On  March  25*^1  and  28*^^  both  Watson  and  Schenk 
got  attacks  of  fever,  so  Bradly  asked  Westman  to  come  down  to 
Ningo,  where  he  arrived  on  April  2"*^.  Watson  died  on  the  10*^; 
and  the  rest  soon  followed  one  after  another.  Westman,  who 
survived,  embarked  for  Europe  and  died  five  days  after  on  the  sea. 
The  tidings  of  these  rapid  and  mournful   deaths  did  not  reach  the 


224  , History  of  the   Gold  Const  and  Asaiite. 

Society  directly,  but  the  missionaries  in  St.  Thomas  heard  a  verbal 
message  by  a  captain,  and  wrote  home.  In  July  the  governor  of 
Christiansborg  reported  the  deaths,  but  his  letter  did  not  arrive 
before  1771.  The  frll  report  of  the  death  of  all  the  missionaries 
from  St.  Thomas  rerched  Herrnhut  in  1773.  Thus  the  Moravian 
Mission  on  the  Gold  Coast  ended,  by  sowing  eleven  precious  seeds 
of  the  Divine  So-'^'er  in  the  soil  of  Western  Africa.  But  those  seeds 
were  not  lost,  for  he  dying  brethren  had  at  least  directed  the  eyes 
of  those  who  wait(  ■  the  kingdom  of  God  to  the  miserable  and 

deprived  condition  oi  tribes   of  that  coast,  and   Zinzendorf  al- 

ready prophesied  a  '>^'  ei  future. 

As  in  the  18*^^  cent  Denmark  was  blessed  with  several  pious 
kings,  who  took  a  sini  •  interest  in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  their 
heathen  subjects  in  the  coloniejs,  so  there  were  several  pious  gov- 
ernors too  sent  out  to  the  .  jnies.  Major  de  Richelieu,  a  well- 
minded  man  with  regard  to  Christian  truth,  was  Governor  of  the 
Danish  settlements  on  the  Gold  Coast  between  1822 — 1825.  (He 
himself  conducted  the  Sunday  ser^  >ces  in  Fort  Christiansborg  in 
absence  of  a  chaplain,  and  took  (-re  that  the  Mulatto  children 
were  properly  educated.)  On  his  r  'turn  to  Denmark,  he  pleaded 
in  an  official  petition  to  the  king  fo  a  bett-^r  attention  to  the  sj»i- 
ritual  welfare  of  the  Natives. 

The  Basel  Missionary  Society,  founded  in  the  year  1815,  had  for 
some  time  prepared  missionaries  chiefly  for  other  societies,  but 
since  1822  begun  missions  of  their  own.*)  Now  they  were  deliber- 
ating on  the  propriety  of  beginning  a  work  in  one  of  the  benighted 
regions  of  the  West  Coast  of  Africa.  De  Richelieu  wrote  to  Basel, 
offering  in  the  name  of  his  king  fair  conditions  and  every  assistance 


*)  From  1818  to  1828  went  out  from  Basel  as  missionaries  for  other 
societies:  to  India  14,  to  Sierra  Leone  5,  to  Egypt  and  Abessinia  5,  to 
Malta  and  Greece  5  (22  of  all  these  for  the  Church  Miss.  Soc);  and 
from  1822  to  1828  the  Basel  Society  sent  11  missionaries  and  11  mi- 
nisters for  German  settlers  to  Russia,  Armenia  and  among  the  Tartars, 
and  6  missionaries  to  Liberia,  West  Africa,  besides  those  4  to  the  Gold 
Coast.  To  Liberia,  the  Society  had  a  call  from  Governor  Ashmun,  the 
founder  of  Monrovia,  previous  to  the  call  from  Denmark.  The  Basel 
missionaries  laboured  for  some  time  among  the  coloured  settlers  from 
America  and  the  indigenous  Veys  and  Bassas,  but  2  of  them  died,  and 
the  4  others,  wearied  out  by  the  indifference  of  the  settlers  and  the 
enmity  of  the  slave-dealers,  after  3 — 4  years  found  better  work  in  Sierra 
Leone  and  elsewhere.    —  Chr. 


Chapter  XIX. 


225 


in  case  the  Committee  should  choose  their  field  of  labour  on  the 
Gold  Coast.  The  Committee  accepted  the  offer  and  entered  into 
negotiations  with  the  Danish  Government. 

In  March  1827  four  missionaries:  Holzwarth,  Schmidt,  Salbach 
and  Henke  were  sent  out  over  Copenhagen.  They  arrived  at  Chris- 
tiansborg  on  the  18*'^  December  1828,  and  were  joyfully  received 
by  Governor  Hendrick  G.  Lind.  They  resolutely  set  to  work,  but 
from  August  12*^  to  29***,  three  of  them  were  buried.  Henke  sur- 
vived till  1831.  The  fruit  of  his  labours  at  the  Government-school 
is  still  to  .be  seen  in  the  pupils  he  Had  under  him.  As  a  missionary 
he  advised  and  encouraged  the  native  chiefs  to  send  their  children 
to  school.  It  was  the  first  case  here  in  Christiansborg.  On  the 
17"»  November  18S1  he  fell  asleep  in  his  Lord.  In  March  1832, 
three  missionaries,  A.  Riis,  P.  Jager  and  Dr.  Heinze  arrived.  But 
the  medical  man  died  six  weeks  after.  Jager  soon  followed  and 
Riis  was  left  alone.  He  was,  like  Henke,  employed  for  some  time 
in  the  Government-school  and  acted  at  the  same  time  as  chaplain. 
Kut  in  1835,  when  Pastor  Jorsleft  arrived  in  the  capacity  of  chap- 
lain, Riis  resigned.  His  mind  was  powerfully  drawn  towards  the 
interior,  where  he  wished  to  be- 
gin a  mission.  Messrs.  Torsleft  and 
Gronberg  accompanied  him  to  A- 
kropong.  King  Ado  Dankwa,  who 
desired  Riis  to  establish  a  mission 
there,  rendered  him  all  assistance. 
A  piece  of  land  was  sold  to  him, 
and  the  king  ordered  his  chiefs 
and  people  to  build  him  a  house ; 
hence  the  natives  called  him  "O- 
siadan"  ("house  builder"').  The 
reception  given  to  Riis  at  Akro- 
pong  encouraged  him  to  beg  the 
Committee  not  to  weary  in  their 
efforts  of  evangelizing  the  Negroes. 
His    reports    kindled    a    new    tire 

of  love   among  the  friends  of  the  Andreas  rms. 

kingdom  of  Christ.  Two  brethren  sent  out  to  his  aid,  J.  Miirdter 
and  A.  Stanger,  together  with  Miss  M.  A.  Wolter,  the  future  partner 
of  A.  Riis,  arrived  in  1836.  It  was  hoped  that  j'a  new  era  would 
commence  for  the  mission;  but  in  December  1837  A.  Stanger  was 

15 


226  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

removed  by  death;  in  November  1838  J.  Milrdter  followed,  and 
A.  Riis  with  his  excellent  lady  were  left  alone  on  the  battle  field. 
The  mission  within  a  period  of  10  years  lost  8  persons  with  appa- 
rently no  result;  no  fruit  of  the  work  was  as  yet  to  be  seen.  The 
Committee  declared  in  the  report  pro  1838,  ''We  are  bowed  down 
at  the  hearing  of  all  the  sad  news,  we  are  dismayed  at  the  utter 
failure  of  our  plans,  we  do  not  understand  the  thoughts  of  the  Lord 
with  this  deeply  afflicted  work." 

Mr.  Riis  continued  for  some  time  his  efforts  at  Akropong,  but 
his  health  gave  way  amidst  all  the  hardships.  Before  returning 
to  Europe,  he  visited  Kumase.  The  impressions  he  received  there 
in  the  lion's  den  were  not  such  as  to  inspire  him  with  hopes  for 
an  immediate  beginning  of  Gospel  work  in  Asante.  In  July  1840 
he  arrived  at  Basel.  The  Committee  were  not  disheartened,  whilst 
many  friends  were  for  -breaking  off  altogether,  as  the  Moravians 
had  done  70  years  before. 

The  Lord,  however,  had  already  chosen  new  ways;  it  was  not 
his  will  to  leave  this  stronghold  of  Satan  in  the  peace  of  death.  A 
new  Inspector,  the  Rev.  W.  Hoffmann,  an  energetic  man,  took  up 
the  legacy  of  his  predecessor  with  undaunted  courage,  finding  out 
new  means  to  "get  the  field."  About  three  years  after  the  above- 
mentioned  sick  leave  of  Mr.  Riis,  we  find  this  faithful  pioneer  in 
.Jamaica,  assisted  by  J.  G.  Widmann,  to  enlist  Christian  emigrants 
from  among  the  free  Negroes  for  the  holy  war  in  Africa.  The 
plan  of  Inspector  Hoffmann  was,  to  begin  our  African  Mission  work 
anew  by  establishing  a  settlement  with  Christian  colonists  from 
the  West  Indies  at  Akropong.  In  Jamaica  24  members  of  the 
Moravian  congregation  were  found  ready  to  go  to  their  fatherland, 
and  arrived  on  the  17*^^  April  1843  at  Christiansborg.  Not  all  these 
West  Indian  brethren  proved  to  be  shining  lights  among  those  who 
were  in  darkness.  Yet  Akropong  became  henceforth  a  city  on  a 
hill,  the  light  of  which  could  not  be  hid. 

At  Christiansborg  a  school  was  opened  for  the  Mulattoes,  which  soon 
became  crowded  with  pupils.  From  1845  a  European  missionary, 
Mr.  Schiedt,  was  stationed  there,  and  regular  preaching  commenced. 

The  young  work  suffered  a  great  loss  in  1845  through  the  utter 
breaking  down  of  Mr.  Riis'  health  and  his  return  to  Europe.  But 
new  missionaries  arrived:  E.  Fr.  Sebald,  Fr.  Schiedt  and  H.  N.  Riis 
in  1«45,  J.  C.  Dieterle,  J.  Stanger,  Fr.  Meischel  and  J.  Mohr  in  1847. 
A  new  station  was  established  at  Aburi  by  Mr.  Meischel. 


Chapter  XIX.  227 

The  annual  Report  of  1848  relates  that  at  last  the  wilderness  and 
the  solitary  places  were  beginning-  to  rejoice,  and  the  first  blossoms 
were  to  be  seen.  About  40  native  Christians  besides  the  20  West 
Indians  were  gathered  in  Christ's  fold,  both  at  Akropong  and  at 
Christiansborg,  and  at  least  300  children  received  regular  instruc- 
tion. Between  1838—1848  onlj  one  missionary,  Sebald,  died  on 
December  7,  1845,  at  Akropong.  May  we  not  ascribe  this  change 
to  the  earnest  prayers  of  the  newborn  children  at  Christiansborg, 
who  assembled  for  the  special  purpose  of  interceding  for  the  lives 
of  their  ministers,  as  Mr.  Schiedfs  report  of  1848  saj^s? 

We  proceed  to  the  year  1858,  and  are  astonished  to  hear  that 
no  fewer  than  18  missionaries,  9  married  and  3  unmarried  ladies, 
altogether  30  Europeans,  besides  2()  catechists  aud  teachers  are 
stationed  not  only  at  old  places,  l)at  also  at  Gyadam  in  Akem, 
founded  1853,  at  Abokobi,  founded  1854  in  consequence  of  the  bom- 
bardment of  Christiansborg,  at  Odumase,  founded  1856.  Aburi, 
given  up  for  6  years  after  the  sick  leave  of  Mr.  Meischel,  was  re- 
opened by  Mr.  Dieterle. 

The  work  had  grown  up  to  manhood,  and  manly  were  the  en- 
deavours to  gain  the  victory.  Our  schools  received  a  suitable  de- 
velopment, so  as  to  resemble  well  organised  Christian  schools  in 
Europe.  Plantations  were  cleared  and  laid  out  with  thousands  of 
coffee-trees,  roads  made  through  the  bush,  better  dwellings  built, 
and  so  forth. 

But  not  only  the  outward  appearance  clianged;  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  brought  a  joyful  harvest  too.  The  number  of  regular 
church  members  at  the  end  of  1858  was  385  besides  90  candidates 
for  baptism.  In  every  way  the  prospects  were  favourable  for  an 
increased  onset;  for  the  heathenish  powers  were  beginning  to  give 
ground. 

Ten  years  later,  at  the  end  of  1868,  that  is,  after  active  missionary 
labour  of  40  years,  the  tabular  view  showed  the  following  num- 
bers: 31  missionaries,  19  ladies,  .53  native  assistants,  1581  church 
members  (four  times  more  than  ten  years  ago).  The  3'ear  1868 
alone  brought  an  increase  of  372  souls. 

The  Mission  Trade  Society  had  begun  their  operations  to  pre- 
pare the  way  for  the  Lord  by  trade  based  on  Christian  principles. 
The  first  Factory  was  established  at  Christiansborg  in  1855  by  our 
energetic  missionary  merchant  Mr.  H.  L.  Rottmann.  We  feel  com- 
pelled to    remark    here   that   he    has,  during  a  period  of  37  years, 

15* 


228  History  of  the   Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

devoted  all  his  energy  in  that  capacity  of  a  missionary  merchant 
and  has  thoroughly  convinced  many  an  intelligent  and  patriotic 
native  by  his  simplicity,  honesty,  sobriety  and  self-denial  as  a 
missionary  indeed.  We  say  convinced,  because  the  general  notion 
prevalent  on  the  whole  Gold  Coast  is,  that  a  merchant  nolens  vo- 
lens  becomes  a  worldling,  a  polyg-amist,  and  luxurious. 

Tw^o  stations  were  also  established  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
Volta:  at  Ada,  and  60  miles  to  the  interior,  at  Anum,  in  the  midst 
of  an  abundant  cotton  district.  Of  course  not  only  the  merchants 
offered  their  goods,  but  native  and  European  ministers  also  offered, 
without  money  and  without  price,  to  children  and  adults,  the  im- 
perishable goods  from  above. 

In  one  place  we  had  to  retreat.  Gyadam,  burnt  down  in  1861, 
was  abandoned,  but  only  to  make  place  for  a  new  station  in  the 
Akem  country  at  Kyebi.  A  great  number  of  out-stations  sprung- 
up,  surrounding  the  central  places  in  every  district.  After  retreating 
from  Anum  in  consequence  of  the  invasion  by  the  Asantes  in  18(34, 
the  station  was  established  at  Akuse  on  the  banks  of  the  Volta. 
(Anum  haB  been  re-occupied  since  1881,  no  more  as  a  trading  station.) 

During  this  period.  Elders  were  appointed  in  our  congregations 
to  assist  the  missionaries  in  their  work  and  to  settle  minor  cases 
of  jurisdiction,  which  institution  still  proves  to  be  a  blessing  in  our 
whole  organisation.  Church  regulations,  adapted  to  the  wants  of 
our  Christian  natives,  became  the  standard  of  life  in  our  communi- 
ties. Polygamy  and  domestic  slavery,  two  evils  closely  connected, 
were  subdued  with  all  energy. 

Our  schools,  the  most  flourishing  part  of  our  African  mission, 
received  every  attention,  because  we  must  have  a  staff  of  well 
educated  native  assistants,  before  we  reach  our  aim,  the  future 
independence  of  a  native  church.  Boarding-schools  were  therefore 
opened  in  all  our  districts  for  boj'S  and  girls,  besides  the  day- 
schools  at  each  station  and  out-station.  For  a  good  while,  a  great 
number  of  the  children  under  instruction  were  either  orphans  or  be- 
longing to  heathenish  families;  in  many  cases  also  either  the  father 
or  the  mother  were  yet  unconverted.  It  is  clear  that  with  child- 
ren living  with  their  ungodly  relations,  the  good  influence  of  the 
school  is  often  weakened  by  the  venemous  influence  of  paganism. 
This  is  less  the  case  with  our  boarding-scholars,  who  live  entirely 
with  the  missionaries  under  strict  discipline.  It  was  no  easy  task 
to  induce  parents  to  give  their  children,  especially  their  daughters. 


Chiipter  XIX.  229 

to  the  iiiissioimries  for  education.  However  all  prejudices  gradually 
disapiioared  by  the  enligiitening  inlluence  of  the  Gospel.  The  great- 
est dititiculty  in  establishing  a  Girls  Boarding-school  was,  and  is 
to  some  degree  still,  experienced  in  the  Krobo  district,  where  every 
girl  has  to  subn:^it  to  a  certain  filthy  heathenish  custom  called  Otufo 
or  Dipo,  or  else  becomes  an  outcast.  ''May  the  Lord  destroy  all 
the  bulwarks  of  Satan,  and  pour  out  his  spirit  upon  daughters  and 
handmaids  among  the  Kroboes!"  exclaims  the  report  for  1865. 
And  the  same  is  our  fervent  prayer  still  for  all  girls  in  the  Ga  and 
Adanme  district. 

The  boys  and  girls  of  the  Boarding-schools  are  also  instructed  in 
handiwork,  the  girls  especially  in  sewing  etc.  We  do  not  expect 
that  all  these  children  will  be  converted;  European  experience  and 
Holy  Scripture  would  contradict  such  expectations.  But  one  thing 
we  know:  the  Holy  Spirit  is  working  in  the  hearts  of  many  of 
them,  and  they  all  learn  at  least  so  much  under  the  roofs  of  the 
missionaries  as  is  necessary  to  become  useful  members  of  society 
in  their  after  life,  and  to  regard  African  superstition  as  sin  and  folly. 

From  among  the  boys  of  our  Day- and  Boarding-schools,  we  annu- 
ally select  the  more  intelligent  and  allow  them  to  enter  our  ''Middle- 
schools"'  in  Akropong,  Christiansborg,  and  Begoro.  An  active  boy 
trained  in  this  school  has  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  an  apprenticeship 
in  a  mercantile  business  or  in  the  Government  office.  Several  young 
men  are  thus  employed,  and  they  reflect  honour  on  our  schools,  but  not 
so  much  on  our  congregations.  We  confidently  hope  that  they  will  ere 
long  become  a  credit  also  to  our  congregations,  and  active  supporters 
of  our  native  church.  Others  may  become  farmers  or  learn  a  trade 
in  one  of  our  industrial  shops.  But  these,  as  remarked  before,  are 
not  our  objects  with  the  Middle-schools.  Young  men  who  have  passed 
three  classes  of  the  Middle-school,  and  wish  to  become  teachers  or 
catechists,  receive  in  the  fourth  class  [)reparatory  instruction  which 
enables  them  to  enter  special  Seminaries.  Those  wlio  wish  to  be- 
come teachers  st-dy  two  years  in  a  Teachers'  Training-school,  con- 
nected with  the  Theological  Seminary.  We  do  not  like  to  use  big- 
words,  otherwise  we  might  term  the  latter  school  "our  Gold  Coast 
High  School."  But  the  object  we  aim  at,  is:  to  educate  native 
ministers,  able  to  take  care  of  the  congregations,  to  feed  their  flock 
with  knowledge  and  understanding  (Jer.  3,  15),  and  to  promote  the 
wisdom  that  is  from  above  and  is  pure,  peaceable,  gentle,  easy  to 
l)e  iutreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits,  without   partiality,  and 


230  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  aud  Asante. 

without  hypocrisy  (James  3,  17).  We  long  for  the  fulfil trient  of 
that  aim,  but  are  already  thankful  for  the  first-fruits  from  the  tree 
of  our  school  work.  '^Speramus  meliora"',  we  hope  for  better,  is 
the  motto  of  the  African  Steamship  Company.  It  expresses  our 
expectations  also  in  this  sphere  of  labour. 

Another  department  in  our  work  received  its  development  between 
1858 — 1868.  Our  friends  are  aware,  that  our  missionary  work  is 
not  limited  to  preaching  and  teaching  alone.  Our  Committee  think 
it  not  only  right,  but  their  bounden  duty,  to  make  our  Christians 
from  the  Gentiles  partakers  of  the  social  blessings,  which  Europeans 
abundantly  derive  from  Christianity.  For  this  pur[)Ose  industrial 
establishments  were  opened  at  Christiansborg  for  joiners,  wheel- 
wrights, locksmiths,  blacksmiths,  shoemakers,  and  book-binders. 
Our  industrial  missionaries  had  to  overcome  many  difficulties  with 
their  workshops.  We  are  therefore  thankful  to  state  that,  in  this 
branch  too,  our  mission  has  not  laboured  in  vain.  After  many 
trials,  the  different  establishments  became  self-supporting,  and  all 
these  different  trades  tended  to  promote  Christian  diligence,  honesty, 
and  sobriety.  These  workshops  have  not  only  enabled  the  Eau'O- 
peans  to  build  more  salubrious  and  comfortable  dwellings  than  those 
they  first  inhabited,  but  the  natives  also,  following  their  examples, 
have  improved  upon  their  former  style  of  domestic  architecture. 
All  the  social  changes,  which  this  branch  of  our  work  brought  to 
the  Gold  Coast,  are  uniformly  aj)preciated  and  speak  for  themselves 
to  every  one  who  has  eyes  to  see  and  sense  enough  to  observe 
past  and  present. 

We  have  to  mention  also  the  difficulties  which  the  confusion  of 
tongues  creates  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  not  in  a  small  degree 
in  our  districts,  wliere  five  different  languages  are  spoken:  Ga  or 
Akra,  Tslii  (Twi),  Guan  (of  Kyerepong,  Date  and  Anum),  Adangme 
and  Ephe.  Two  of  the  chief  vernacular  tongues,  Ga  and  Tshi,  have 
been  adopted  and  cultivated  as  the  common  medium  of  intercourse 
in  church  and  school,  and  these  have  become  written  languages. 
The  late  Kev.  .J.  Zimmermann  finished  the  Ga  translation  of  the  Rible 
in  1S66,  and  Rev.  .1.  G.  Christaller  issued  his  excellent  Tshi  Old  and 
New  Testament  a  few  years  later.  Besides,  there  are  a  great  number 
of  useful  school  books  of  every  description:  Dictionaries,  Hymn- 
books,  Prayer-books,  etc.,  either  translated  or  compiled  by  those  two 
missionaries  and  others.  We  are  greatly  indebted  to  the  Basel 
missionaries,  but  in  particular  to  the  Revs.  John  Zimmermann  and 


Chapter  XIX.  231 

Christallei-;  for  having  taken  great  pains  to  cultivate  our  language 
to  become  written  languages.  We  say  with  gratitude  that  as  long 
as  this  world  exists  their  names  shall  never  be  forgotten  in  the 
annals  of  the  Gold  Coast.  We  are  also  greatly  indebted  to  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  who  have  generously  paid  the  expense 
of  printing  those  translations. 

And  now  the  outward  features,  by  which  our  progress  during  the 
last  ten  years  has  been  characterized,  ought  to  be  indicated.  In  1868 
we  were  able  to  say  that  we  had  filled  the  regions  of  the  Eastern 
province  of  the  colony  with  the  Gospel.  Congregations  had  been 
gathered,  schools  established,  native  assistants  educated,  the  Bible 
translated  into  two  languages,  other  books  for  school  and  church 
published  in  the  native  tongues,  work-shops  opened,  agriculture 
promoted.  And  as  a  decided  progress,  and  a  step  in  the  right  di- 
rection towards  building  up  a  native  church,  several  of  the  faithful 
catechists  were  ordained  as  Pastors  of  congregations  between  1868  and 
1878.  The  report  for  1879  says,  ''It  was  a  day  of  joy  and  gladness,, 
when  our  dear  brethren,  the  Revs.  A.  W.  Clerk,  Ch.  Reindorf,  and 
Th.  Opoku  received  this  token  of  confidence  and  appreciation  of  faith- 
ful services  by  our  Committee."  Four  years  later  Messrs.  Koranteng, 
Nath.  Date,  Jer.  Engmann  and  Ch.  Quist  were  ordained.  And  we 
are  thankful  to  the  Lord,  that  he  has  blessed  the  labours  of  his 
servants  the  missionaries  that  up  to  the  present  year  (1891)  we  have 
18  Native  Pastors  in  active  service,  two  of  whom  have  been  educated 
and  ordained  in  Basel,  viz.,  Mr.  D.  Asante*)  and  Mr.  N.  Clerk.  Our 
elder  brother  Mr.  A.  W.  Clerk  is  under  pension. 

The  area  of  our  mission  field  has  extended  over  one  half  of  the 
Gold  Coast  colony.  The  country  of  Okwawu  has  been  occupied  in 
the  north.  Western  Akem  or  Akem  Kotoku  in  the  west,  and  the 
eastern  boundary  is  the  Volta  with  some  parts  beyond  it. 

Statistics  of  the  Basel  Mission  on  the  Gold  Coast 
on  January   1,   1890  (and,    in   parentheses,    1894,    to    show    the  increase 

in  4  years). 

The  stations  with  tlieir  number  of   out-stations   added  in    figures  are: 
In  the  Coast  districts:     Akra :    Christiansborg  5  (6):    Abokobi  15(17); 
Nsaba  in  Fante-Agona  10  (14);   Odumase  in  Krobo   7:  Ada  5  (6). 


*)  Rev.  D.  Asante,  who  had  been  in  Basel  1857—1862,  died  on  Oct.  13, 
1892,  after  faithful  and   valuable  services.      Chr. 


232  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

In  the  Inland  districts:  Akuapem :  Aburi  7;  Akropong  12;  Akem : 
Begoro  31  (46);   Okwawu  :   Abetifi  6  (8);  East  of  Volta:   Anum  10  (14). 

Total:  Stations  10,  out-statious  108  (137). 

There  are  35  (41)  missionaries  and  23  (25)  missionary  ladies,  and 
169  (193)  native  agents,  employed  in  the  different  departments  of  the 
mission,  viz.,  the  Itinerary,  the  Pastoral,  the  Educational,  the  Medical, 
the  Commercial  and  the  Industrial   departments. 

The  number  of  church  members  in  the  whole  mission  is  8,909  (12,074) 
of  whom  3,662  (5,198)  are  communicants.  We  have  100  (110)  schools 
with  2791  (3513)  scholars  (of  whom  725  (880)  are  heathens),  viz., 
1  Theological  Seminary,  1  Teachers'  Seminary,  3  Middle  (or  Grammar) 
Schools,  4  Boarding-schools  for  boys,  3  Boarding-schools  for  girls, 
83  (93)  Day-schools  and  5  Sunday-schools. 

The  loss  sustained  by  our  mission  since  1828  to  1890  (1894)  i.  e. 
62  (66)  years  are,  65  (68)  missionaries  and  33  (36)  missionary  ladies, 
total  98   (104)  persons. 

We  have  come  so  fai-  with  the  history  of  the  Basel  Mission,  and 
are  now  to  take  up  that  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission,  the  next  in  age 
and  rank. 

Both  missions  were  preceded  by  the  establishment  of  the  Danish 
and  the  English  governmental  schools  in  the  country.  Chaplains 
were  sent  out  for  each  Government,  and  consequently  schools 
were  opened.  The  Dutch  had  also  chaplains  and  schools,  but  no 
Evangelical  Mission  established. 

W.  J.  Miiller  was  the  first  Danish  chaplain  at  Cape  Coast  from 
1661 — 1670.  The  first  Protestant  missionary  at  Cape  Coast  was  the 
Rev,  Thomas  Thompson,  sent  out  in  1751  by  the  Society  for  the  Pro- 
pagation of  the  Gospel.  He  acted  as  chaplain  until  1756,  when  ill 
health  obliged  him  to  retire.  Philip  Kwaku,  one  of  the  three  youths 
he  had  sent  to  England  for  education,  received  orders  and  acted  as 
chaplain  from  1765  until  his  death,  October  1816.  He  established 
a  school,  which  was  kept  up  by  his  successors.  The  result  of  his 
labours  for  50  years  was,  that  some  of  the  natives  trained  in  that 
school  associated  themselves  for  the  acquisition  of  religious  know- 
ledge, as  shall  be  seen  hereafter.  He  was  defamed  to  have  relapsed 
into  idolatry,  as  some  charms  or  fetishes  were  found  under  his  dying 
pillows  and  bed.  Even  if  such  were  the  case,  we  are  quite  certain, 
they  were  not  placed  there  by  himself,  or  by  his  orders,  for  it  is 
a  fact  that,  not  only  the  native  Christians,  but  even  the  Europeans 
as  well,  have  often  been  thus  treated  by  their  heathen  friends 
attending  them  as  nurse  or  doctor. 

"It  was  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1834  (writes  Dr.  J.  Beecham) 
that  the  Committee  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society  were  in- 
duced to  send  a  missionary    on  a  visit  of  observation  to  the  Gold 


Chapter  XIX.  233 

Coast.  A  few  native  youths,  who  had  learned  to  read  the  English 
translation  of  the  Bible  in  the  excellent  Government-school  at  Cape 
Coast  Castle,  became  so  interested  by  the  contents  of  the  sacred 
volume,  that  they  agreed  to  meet  at  regular  times  for  the  purpose 
of  reading  it  together,  and  of  enquiring  carefully  into  the  nature 
and  claims  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  name  which  this  asso- 
ciation assumed  was  that  of  *'A  Meeting  or  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge";  and  they  adopted  for  their  guidance  the 
following  rule,  which  is  copied  literallj^  from  the  minutes  of  their 
proceedings:  "That,  as  the  word  of  God  is  the  best  rule  a  Christian 
ought  to  observe,  it  is  herein  avoided  framing  other  rules  to  enforce 
good  conduct;  but  that  the  Scriptures  must  be  carefully  studied, 
through  which,  by  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  faith  in  Christ  Jesus, 
our  minds  will  be  enlightened  and  find  the  way  to  eternal  salvation. 

"The  formation  of  this  most  interesting  Society  or  Meeting  took 
place  on  the  1**  of  October  1831;  and  in  the  year  1833,  Mr.  William 
De  Graft,  one  of  the  first  who  began  to  read  the  Scriptures  privately 
in  the  spirit  of  prayer  and  inquiry,  received  at  Dix  Cove,  where 
he  was  then  residing,  a  request  from  his  .young  friends  at  Cape 
Coast  town  that  he  would  engage  some  suitable  person,  who  might 
be  proceeding  to  England,  to  purchase  for  their  use  a  number  of 
copies  of  the  New  Testament. 

"Shortly  after,  the  late  excellent  captain  Potter,  master  of  a 
merchant  vessel  from  the  port  of  Bristol,  arrived  at  Dix  Cove,  to 
whom  William  De  Graft  applied  as  one  likely  to  execute  with 
promptness  and  care  the  commission  for  the  purchase  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. He  was  surprised  at  receiving  such  an  application  from  a 
native  young  man,  and  became  so  greatly  interested  by  the  infor- 
mation which  his  questions  elicited,  that  he  was  led  to  ask  whether 
the  instructions  of  a  missionary  would  not  be  highly  appreciated 
by  those  native  inquirers  after  the  true  religion.  De  Graft  replied 
in  the  affirmative,  but  appeared  doubtful  whether  so  high  a  privilege 
was  attainable.  Captain  Potter  next  proceeded  to  Cape  Coast,  where 
he  saw  the  members  of  the  Meeting;  and  having  consulted  President 
Maclean,  he  returned  to  England,  resolved  to  exert  himself  in  order 
that,  on  his  next  voyage,  he  might,  together  with  copies  of  the 
Scriptures,  take  out  a  Christian  minister  who  should  "preach  the 
word"  to  those  who  were  already  united  in  seeking  "the  way  to 
eternal  salvation",  and  proclaim  the  Gospel  of  Christ  to  other  por- 
tions of  the  heathenish  native  population  of  the  Gold  Coast. 


234  History   of  the  Gold   Coast  and   Asante. 

''Immediately  after  his  arrival  at  Bristol,  captain  Potter  communi- 
cated to  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Committee  in  London  his  views 
as  to  the  promising  opening  for  missionary  exertion  in  that  part 
of  Africa,  and  generously  otfered  to  take  a  missionary  with  him 
on  his  next  voyage,  who  might  make  personal  observation  and 
inquiry  upon  the  spot;  and,  should  he  conclude  that  the  prospect 
was  not  such  as  to  warrant  his  continuance  for  the  purpose  of 
commencing  a  mission,  captain  Potter  engaged  that  he  would  bring 
him  back  to  England  without  any  expense  to  the  Missionary  Society. 
This  noble  offer  met  with  acceptance  on  the  part  of  the  Missionary 
Committee;  and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Dunwell  was  selected  lor  the  in- 
teresting service. 

"This  devoted  missionary  embarked  with  captain  Potter  at  Bristol, 
on  the  17"'  of  October  1834  .... 

"On  the  29*ii  of  December,  the  vessel  anchored  off  the  Dutch  fort 
of  Elmina.  At  this  place,  within  sight  of  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
]\lr.  Dunwell  wrote  in  his  journal  as  follow\s:  "What  my  feelings 
have  been  this  day,  I  cannot  describe.  The  place  of  my  future  re- 
sidence is  in  view:  it  may  prove  the  spot  where  I  shall  finish  my 
earthly  existence;  and  there  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  may  be 
honoured,  or  dishonoured,  by  me.  But,  in  the  strength  of  grace, 
I  trust  that,  whether  my  da^'s  may  be  many,  or  soon  numbered, 
they  will  be  spent  in  the  service  of  God.  All  things  appear  to  me 
to  sink  into  nothingness,  compared  with  the  great  work  of  my 
Divine  Lord  and  Master. 

"While  at  anchor  off  Elmina,  Mr.  Dunwell  wrote  a  letter  to  Pre- 
sident Maclean,  at  Cape  Coast  Castle,  respectfully  informing  him 
of  his  arrival  on  the  coast,  and  stating  the  objects  contemplated  by 
the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Conmiittee,  in  sending  him  as  a  Missionary 
to  that  part  of  Africa.  On  his  arrival  a  day  or  two  afterwards  at 
Cape  Coast  Castle,  he  met  with  a  kind  reception  from  the  Presi- 
dent, who  invited  him  to  remain  at  the  castle  until  he  could  provide 
himself  with  a  suitable  residence;  and  expressed  his  opinion  that 
there  was  a  very  favourable  opening  among  the  natives  for  mis- 
sionary exertions."'  (Dr.  J.  Beecham's  Ashantee  and  the  Gold  Coast 
pp.  259—272.) 

The  nucleus  of  a  true  church  of  Christ  having  been  formed  of 
a  scripture-reading  body  by  the  Lord  himself,  who  is  the  head  of 
the  church,  Mr.  Dunwell's  arrival  was  hailed  with  joy  and  gratitude. 
A  small  congregation  of  from  forty  to  fifty    members  on  trial  was 


Chapter  XIX  235 

speedily  gathered,  and  tlie  aspects  of  the  new   mission  were  of  the 
most  cheering  character.     Mr.  Dunwell  visited  several  places,   and 
preached   for   the    first   time  at  Anomabo  in    March    1835;    besides 
there  were  several  doors  wide  open  to  receive  the  message  of  sal- 
vation, in  short,  the  mission  assumed  a  most  promising  appearance. 
He  was  attacked  by  fever  after  about  six  months  energetic  labour 
and  expired  about  9  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  24*''  June  1835. 
The  Wesleyan    Committee   at  home,   in    announcing  Mr.  Dunwell's 
death,  stated,    "We  are  painfully  affected  by  this  dispensation,  but 
not  disheartened,  cast  down,  but  not  destroyed.    Our  great  Master 
buries  his  workman,  but  carries  on  his  work.    To  Western  Africa 
the   people   of  England   owe   a   debt,    which    must   be   paid    at   all 
hazards,  and  God  will  yet  bless  our  persevering  efforts  to  discharge, 
in  some  measure,  the  solemn  obligations  of  humanit.y  and  religion." 
For  nearly  fifteen  months,    the  hopeful   flock  at  Cape  Coast  had 
been  left  without  a  shepherd,   yet  being  a  tree  of  the  Lord's  own 
planting,  the  congregation  increased^  and  the  influence  of  Christianity 
was  felt  to  a  considerable   distance   inland.     But  on  September  15, 
1836,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wrigley  arrived.    He  connnenced  his  varied  la- 
hours  with  zeal,  undertook,  without  delay,  the  erection  of  a  commo- 
dious building,  including  a  chapel  and  school-rooms,  and  under  his 
ministry  the  society  continued  to  prosper.  The  Wesleyan  Committee 
at  home,   to   strengthen    the    hands   of  their   energetic   missionary, 
sent  out  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harrop  on  November  17,  1836.  They  arrived 
on  Sunday  January  15,  1837,  and  went  in  companj^  of  both  Mr.  and 
J\Irs.  Wrigley  to  the  afternoon  service,   where  they  had  a  crowded 
congregation,   so  that  Mr.  Harrop  was  both  surprised  and  gratified 
with  the  sight.    But  Mr.  Wrigley  was  himself  attacked  with  illnewSS 
the  following  day,  and  confined  to  bed  for  some  time.    On  Sunday, 
January  29,  precisely  a  fortnight  from  the  arrival  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Hari-op,  both  were  attacked  with  the  seasoning  fever,  owing  to  the 
injurious    exposure    of   themselves    to    the   effects    of  the   sun    and 
damps.     Well  might  Mr.  Wrigley  say:  "Ah!  how  vain  are  all  our 
earthly  hopes,  and  how  mysterious  are  his  ways  whose  judgments 
are  a  great  deep!    The  arrival  of  our  friends,  so  highly  calculated 
to  cheer  and  encourage  us  in  our  arduous  work,   was   the  prelude 
to  the  experience   of  the  severest  afttictions."     Mrs.   Wrigley  sank 
under    the   fatigue   which    she    experienced,    while   attending    with 
affectionate  anxiety,    by  night  and  by  day,    to   the  wants  and  suf- 
ferings of  her  newly  arrived  friends.  Mrs.  Harrop  died  on   Sunday 


236  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and   Asante. 

morning-,  February  5,  1837,  after  a  residence  of  only  three  weeks; 
and  both  Mrs.  Wrigley  and  Mr.  Harrop  died  within  a  few  minutes 
of  each  other,  on  the  8*'^  of  the  same  month,  and  their  remains  were 
interred  at  tiie  same  time.  What  tragical  events!  ^'How  are  we 
to  account  for  all  these  losses  of  dear  lives,  at  the  great  assize,  if 
we  remain  unconverted !'' 

Mr.  Wrigley  was  now  the  only  surviving  missionary  on  the  Gold 
Coast,  and  nothing  but  the  consolations  of  religion  could  have 
sustained  him  under  an  accumulation  of  losses  so  sudden  and  severe. 
Yet  he  went  on  with  the  work,  visiting,  preaching,  school-teaching, 
journeying  from  place  to  place.  He  once  more  renews  his  appli- 
cation for  help  as  follows,  ''I  have  again  to  urge  the  immediate  re- 
inforcement of  the  Mission.  What  is  one  single  individual  among 
so  many?  I  hope,  notwithstanding  the  sad  news  which  these  sheets 
communicate,  that  others  will  be  found  to  fill  up  the  ranks  and  in 
the  spirit  of  one  now  slumbering-  alongside  Harriet  Newell  in  the 
Isle  of  France,  —  Sergeant,  —  come  to  this  hell,  if  it  be  even  to 
die  here."  In  due  course  others  were  found,  who  freely  and  nobly 
offered  themselves  to  be  "baptized  for  the  dead,'"  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  But  before  their  arrival  Mr.  Wrigley  was  seized  with  the 
illness  which  proved  fatal  to  him,  but  was  graciously  supported 
during-  his  affliction;  and  he  received  the  kindest  attentions  from 
the  affectionate  people  to  whom  he  had  ministered  with  so  much 
success.     He  died  in  Cape  Coast  town  on  November  16,  1837. 

It  was  during  Mr.  Wrigley 's  ministry  that  Mr.  William  De  Graft 
was  appointed  for  Winnebah,  where  he  happened  to  meet  two 
Mulatto  traders  from  Akra,  Mr.  Peter  Mayer,  and  a  friend  of  his. 
Those  two  Akra  traders  became  so  interested  with  the  new  religion, 
that  they  expressed  the  desire  to  become  menibers  of  Christ's  church. 
On  their  arrival  at  Akra,  they  hired  a  house  and  began  to  meet 
for  private  devotions.  Their  number  increased  gradually,  and  on 
Mr.  Freeman's  arrival  they  were  visited  and  confirmed  by  him. 

Twelve  days  before  the  death  of  Mr.  Wrigley  on  the  Gold  Coast, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Freeman  embarked  on  board  the  Osborne,  and  arrived 
on  January  3,  1838.  Mrs.  Freeman  had  not  heard  of  the  death  of 
Mr.  Wrigley  until  he  arrived  at  Cape  Coast;  and  when  he  entered 
the  hallowed  chamber  where  the  good  man  met  his  fate,  and  where 
four  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord  had  so  recently  breathed  their 
last,  his  mind  for  some  time  was  depressed ;  but  casting- his  burden 
upon  the  Lord,   he  entered    upon  his    work   with   a   cheerful  spirit 


Chapter  XIX.  2^1 

that  was  truly  admirable.  Mr.  Freeman  being  the  fourth  missionary 
and  arriving  on  the  3'"''  January,  the  natives  called  him  "Kwakn 
Anan".  (Kwaku  is  the  name  for  a  male  child  born  on  Wednesday, 
and  Anan  the  name  for  the  fourth  male  child.)  We  say  rightly 
that  Mr.  Freeman  was  providentially  and  specially  sent  by  our 
Lord  himself  to  the  Gold  Coast,  because  he  was  spared  to  labour 
nearly  half  a  century,  and  deserves  to  be  called  by  us  ^'Father 
Freeman."  But  our  climate  had  a  contrary  effect  on  Mrs.  Freeman, 
who  immediately  after  landing  set  about  the  female  department  of 
the  mission  work  in  the  same  spirit  as  her  husband,  arranging 
plans  for  future  usefulness.  But  suddenly  she  was  called  to  part 
with  her  dear  partner  on  the  ^0'^^  February,  after  a  residence  at 
Cape  Coast  ot  48  daj^s. 

Under  the  energetic  exertions  of  Mr.  Freeman  the  mission  at  Cape 
Coast  had  been  rising,  when  the  prospect  of  a  wide  and  effectual 
door  opening  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  Kumase,  already 
reported  to  the  late  Mr.  Wrigley,  again  reached  Mr.  Freeman.  It 
was  in  the  spring  of  18H9  that  Mr.  Freeman  paid  his  first  enter- 
prising visit  to  the  capital,  of  Asante.  He  was  cordially  received 
by  the  king,  and  arrangements  were  made  towards  establishing  the 
mission  there.     (See  Missionary  Notices  for  1840.) 

On  the  20">  November  1839,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mycock  and  Mr.  Robert 
Brooking  embarked  for  Cape  Coast,  where  they  arrived  on 
January  1.3,  1840  and  were  heartily  welcomed  by  the  people  and 
Mr.  Freeman,  who  up  to  this  time  had  been  toiling  alone. 

During  the  year  1840  considerable  interest  was  excited  in  England 
in  favour  of  the  Gold  Coast  Mission,  occasioned  by  Mr.  Freeman's 
visit  to  Kumase.  In  June,  he  and  Mr.  William  De  Graft,  the  native 
local  preacher,  arrived  in  England,  when  that  feeling  was  greatly 
increased,  and  became  universal,  A  special  appeal  was  made  to 
the  friends  of  missions,  and  the  noble  sum  of  ^^  5,000  was  raised 
in  a  few  months  to  enable  the  Committee  considerably  to  augment 
the  number  of  missionaries  on  the  Gold  Coast. 

Mr.  Freeman  and  the  party  appointed  to  accompany  him  to  the 
Gold  Coast  embarked  at  Gravesend  on  the  10*''  December.  In 
addition  to  Mr.  De  Graft,  it  consisted  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Freeman, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hesk,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Shipman,  with  Messrs.  Watson, 
Walden,  and  Thackwray.  This  noble  band  of  missionaries  were 
favoured  with  a  safe  voyage  to  Africa,  and  landed  at  Cape  Coast 
Castle   on   February  1,  1841.     Their   arrival  increased    the  staff  ot 


238  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

missionaries  and  wives  on  the  Gold  Coast  to  the  number  of  twelve 
persons.  But  in  March  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mycock  were  obUged  to  return 
to  England  for  their  health,  and  in  about  six  months  after  their 
arrival  at  Cape  Coast  four  of  them  were  numbered  with  the  dead, 
and  a  fifth  had  to  return  home  to  save  his  life.  The  history  of  the 
Gospel  Mission  in  Africa  is  a  history  of  the  ravages  of  death! 

Mr.  William  Thackwray  died  at  Anoniabo,  May  14,  1841,  three 
months  and  three  days  after  he  had  landed.  Charles  Walden  was 
the  second,  on  the  29"^  of  July;  Mrs.  Freeman  died  on  the  25*'\  and 
Mrs.  Hesk  on  the  28*'^  of  August.  Mr.  Hesk  returned  home.  Thus  the 
mission  party  at  Cape  Coast  was  now  reduced  more  than  one  half,  but 
notwithstanding  these  heavy  afflictions  and  mysterious  bereavements, 
Mr.  Freeman,  early  in  November,  in  com[)any  with  Mr.  Brooking 
and  the  two  Asante  princes,  Owusu  Ansa  and  Kwantabisa,  who 
had  been  educated  in  England,  started  for  Kumase.  They  were  fa- 
vourably received  by  the  king,  a  piece  of  land  was  granted  by 
His  Majesty,  on  which  to  erect  suitable  mission-premises;  and  the 
nucleus  of  a  Christian  church  was  speedily  formed  in  the  blood- 
dyed  streets  of  the  capital  of  the  sanguinary  kingdom  of  Asante. 
Mr.  Freeman  returned  to  the  coast  and  left  Mr.  Brooking  in  charge 
of  the  mission.  The  Committee  of  the  Wesleyan  Missions  felt  it 
to  be  their  imperative  duty  to  send  out  three  missionaries  to  fill 
up  the  ranks  occasioned  by  deaths  and  returns.  They  were  Messrs. 
William  Allen,  Henry  J.  Wyatt,  and  Thomas  Rowland.  The  first 
arrived  on  the  27*''  January,  and  the  two  others  on  the  21*'^  Fel)- 
ruary.  Thus  the  little  missionary  band,  who  still  had  been  enabled 
to  maintain  their  post,  was  strengthened,  —  strengthened,  alas!  but 
for  a  short  time.  Mr.  Wyatt  died  on  the  6^^  of  April-  1842,  and 
Mr.  Rowland,  who  was  sent  in  Mai  to  join  Mr.  Brooking  in 
Kumase,  was  attacked  with  illness  on  the  journey.  He  was 
partially  recovered  as  to  awaken  hopes  of  his  entire  restoration, 
but  on  the  10"'  of  July  1842  he  entered  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord, 
at  Kumase.  A  reinforcement,  consisting  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Watkins 
with  Mr.  George  Chapman,  arrived  at  Cape  Coast  on  January 
23,  1843.  But  the  staff  of  standard-bearers  on  the  Gold  Coast 
was  again  reduced  about  this  time  by  the  death  of  Mr.  Shipman 
and  Mrs.  Watkins.  Mr.  Shipman  after  a  few  weeks'  residence  at 
Cape  Coast,  proceeded  to  British  Akra  (James  Town),  early  in  1844, 
to  take  charge  of  that  important  station,  where  he  continued  to 
labour  to  the  time  of  his  death.    In  addition  to  his  other  work,  he 


Chapter  XIX.  ■  239 

was  employed  in  compiling-  a  vocabulary  of  the  Fante  language^ 
and  had  then  completed  a  translation  of  the  Commandments,  the 
Lords'  Prayer,  and  part  of  the  Conference  Catechism,  He  had  also 
several  native  converts  under  a  course  of  training,  preparatory  to 
their  becoming  native  teachers,  and  subordinate  agents  in  the 
mission.  But  in  the  midst  of  usefulness,  rhis  faithful  and  zealous 
lierald  of  tiie  cross  was  removed  from  earth  to  heaven,  on  Febru- 
ary 22,  1843.  We  relate  witii  deep  sorrow  the  death  of  this  ener- 
getic missionary,  whose  removal  was  a  death-blow  to  the  Wesleyan 
Mission.  The  tine  institution  he  opened  at  Akra,  where  promising- 
young  men,  from  Cape  Coast,  Anomabo,  and  other  places,  were 
being  trained  for  the  ministry  as  well  as  for  the  Gold  Coast  Commu- 
nity, came  to  an  end.  Even  the  study  of  the  vernacular  was  given 
up  in  consequence  of  his  death.  Mr.  Watkins  died  at  Cape  Coast, 
on  March  1,  1843,  after  a  residence  of  only  39  days  on  the  Gold 
Coast. 

After  the  energetic  labours  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission  on  the  Gold 
Coast,  from  1835  to  the  beginning  of  1843,  precisely  eight  years,  their 
loss  of  able  missionaries  and  wives  of  missionaries  amounted  to  14, 
and  the  result  of  their  mission  labours,  according  to  the  Gold  Coast 
Almanack  for  1843,  is  the  following:  6  principal  stations  and  14  out- 
stations:  Cape  Coast:  Rev.  Thomas  B.  Freeman,  with  6  native  agents 
as  local  preachers,  interpreters,  leaders,  and  teachers,  and  Miss 
C.  Waldron  as  school-mistress;  Dominase:  Rev.  W.  Allen,  with  two 
agents;  British  Akra:  Rev.  J.  A.  Shipman  with  4  agents;  Dixcove: 
Rev.  John  Watson  with  2  agents;  Kumase,  Rev.  R.  Brooking; 
Badagry:  Mr.  William  De  Graft;  and  Anomabo  under  Mr.  George 
Blankson  with  6  agents.  The  number  of  members  in  Society  was 
690,  and  360  scholars.  We  heartily  congratulate  our  brethren  for 
the  success  they  have  achieved  within  those  8  years,  and  join  them 
to  praise  our  Divine  Lord  for  such  blessing  on  the  labours  of 
His  servants. 

In  the  middle  of  October  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Annear,  with  Mr.  Timothy 
J.  Greaves  and  Mr.  John  Martin,  embarked  for  the  Gold  Coast. 
They  arrived  on  the  12**»  December.  Mr.  Annear  had  spent  nearly 
a  year  and  a  half  at  Sierra  Leone.  On  the  7*'^  of  February  1844 
Mr.  Benjamin  AVatkins,  who  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  took  charge 
of  the  circuit  and  institution  at  Akra  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Shipman, 
was  also  removed  by  death.  Mr.  Brooking,  sent  out  for  the  second 
time,    after  upwards    of  three  years  labour,   and    accompanied    by 


240  ■  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaiite. 

Mrs.  Brooking,  arrived  on  March  20,  1844.  Mr.  Chapman  was  at 
Kimiase,  and  Mr.  Greaves  took  charge  of  the  Akra  Circuit  after  the 
death  of  Mr.  Watkins.  In  June,  Mr.  Freeman,  who  had  been  in  la- 
bours more  abundant,  again  left  the  Gold  Coast  on  a  temporary  visit 
to  England ;  but  a  few  weeks  after  his  departure  Mr.  Greaves  died 
at  Akra  on  July  14,  1844.  Mr.  B.  Chapman  was  sent  to  the  Gambia, 
where  he  arrived  on  March  19,  1845,  and  Mr.  Allen  returned  to 
England,  for  a  temporary  change. 

Mr.  Freeman  remained  in  England  till  May  1845.  During  his 
stay  there,  he  was  called  upon  to  defend  himself  and  the  mission 
from  one  of  the  most  unfounded  and  bitter  attacks  that  was  in- 
vented. But  the  Committee  and  the  friends  of  the  mission  rejoiced 
that  he  came  of  this  trial  ''more  than  conqueror"  and  that  it  had 
the  effect  of  raising  him  and  the  mission  still  higher  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  friends  of  missions  in  general,  and  also  of  obtaining 
some  additional  supporters  to  the  same  hallowed  cause. 

On  Mr.  Freeman's  return  to  the  Gold  Coast,  he  was  accompanied 
by  Mr.  Henry  Wharton,  a  man  of  colour,  a  native  of  Grenada  in 
the  West  Indies.  They  embarked  on  May  17,  1845,  and  on  the 
23''*'  June  they  reached  Cape  Coast.  In  August  Mr.  George  Chapman 
embarked  for  England  with  the  hopes  of  returning  to  his  interesting 
sphere  of  labour,  but  was  sent  to  Southern  Africa,  and  Mr.  Wharton 
was  appointed  for  Kumase. 

On  the  10"'  November,  another  little  band  of  missionaries  —  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Allen  with  Messrs.  George  Findley  and  Edward  Addison 
and  Mrs.  Brooking  embarked  and  landed  at  Cape  Coast  on  the 
3Qtii  December.  But  unfortunately  Mr.  Brooking  had  been  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  coast  on  account  of  ill  health,  so  that  the  hus- 
band and  wife  missed  each  other  on  the  passage.  After  a  residence 
of  only  two  months  and  ten  days  Mr.  George  Findley  died,  March  10, 
1846,  at  Cape  Coast  town.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Annear  were  compelled  to 
leave  the  coast  for  England.  In  Januarj^  1847  the  Gold  Coast 
Mission  received  a  re-inforcement  by  the  arrival  of  Messrs.  .lohn 
Thomas,  John  Harrop,  and  Charles  Hillard.  On  the  15**'  January 
1848  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Allen  and  John  Martin  were  called  to  leave  their 
interesting  spheres  of  usefulness  at  Cape  Coast,  through  failure  of 
health.  Mr.  Martin  had  laboured  more  than  four  years,  and  Mr.  Allen 
upwards  of  six  years.  Mr.  Frederick  Hart  arrived  at  Cape  Coast 
in  March,  but  two  excellent  labourers,  Messrs.  Addison  and  Thomas, 
and  also  Mr.  Harrop,  were  obliged  to  leave  their  spheres  of  labour. 


Chapter  XIX.  241 

The  fornier  was  an  infimate  inissioiiary  brother  to  Mr.  Schiedt  of 
the  Basel  Mission.  It  was  very  delightful  indeed  to  sec  these  two 
heralds  of  the  cross  working  in  harmony  for  the  common  cause  of 
Christ,  the  former  at  James  Town,  the  latter  at  Chrislianshorg. 

At  the  district  meeting  of  1850,  Messrs.  G.  P.  IJrowii,  Joseph 
Dawson,  Timothy  Taing,  and  .1.  (),  Ansa  were  received  Ity  the 
committee  and  recommended  to  the  English  conference  of  1851  as 
assistant  missionaries  on  trial.  The  report  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission 
for  the  year  ending  April  1850  was  as  follows: 

The  district,  then  called  (Jape  Coast  district,  consisted  of  the 
following  circuits:  Cape  Coast,  Anomal)0,  Dominase,  IJritisli  Akra, 
Kumase,  and  Badagry.  The  following  were  the  statistics  for  the 
jteriod:  (5  missionaries,  10  chapels  and  preaching-houses,  857  mem- 
liers,  946  scholars.  The  stations  were  as  follows:  In  the  Cap(!  Coast 
circuit:  Cape  Coast,  Dixcove,  Sekundi  (Saknnne),  Beulah,  Providence, 
Elmina,  Abrobonko,  Ekroful,  Abakrampa,  Dunkwa  and  Abaka.  In 
the  Anomabo  circuit:  Anomabo,  Edwumako,  Abasa  and  Asafa.  In 
the  Dominase  circuit:  Dominase,  Donase,  Abuadze  and  Ayeredu. 
In  the  Akra  circuit:  British  Akra,  Winneba,  Prampram  and 
Ningo.  In  the  Badagry  circuit:  Badagry  and  Abeokuta.  Mr. 
Freeman  was  still  the  General  Superintendent  of  the  mission.  F]very 
effort  was  made  by  him  to  let  civilization  go  hand  in  hand  with 
evangelization  in  the  country.  For  tlie  purpose  of  giving  industrial 
training,  a  large  garden  was  established  at  Beulah,  which  cost  the 
Home  Committee  a  great  outlay  annuallj'.  In  his  report  about  this 
branch  of  missionary  labour  in  the  year  1850,  he  remarks:  The 
scholars  in  the  industrial  garden  behave  well,  and  are,  many  of 
them,  of  great  promise.  They  present  quite  a  new  feature  connected 
with  the  civilization  of  this  country.  The  circumstances  of  a  lad  being- 
able  to  read  the  scriptures,  and  at  the  same  time  able  and  willing 
to  use  with  a  practised  hand  the  bill-hook,  axe,  and  spade,  and 
jterform  a  fair  day's  work,  is  one  which  will  tell  above  all  others 
on  the  masses  of  the  people  in  the  great  work  of  civilization. 

From  the  year  1852  Methodism  began  to  progress  by  rapid 
strides.  Prior  to  this  period,  advance  was  rather  slow,  owing  to 
the  great  barriers  of  paganism  Ijdng  in  its  way.  But  the  circum- 
stances which  happened  in  this  year,  in  connection  with  the  great 
fetish  at  Mankesim,  resulting  in  exposure  of  fetish  tricks,  almost 
shattered  tiie  strongholds  of  [»aganism  to  their  very  foundations. 
(See   Cruickshank's    work,    volume  II    chapter  XI   for  details;    also 

16 


242  History   of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

extract  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Freeman  to  Mr.  Cruickshank  appended 
to  that  volume.) 

The  words  of  the  superintendent  of  the  Anomabo  circuit  at  that 
time  embodied  in  his  report  to  the  general  superintendent  throw 
light  on  the  general  aspect  of  the  mission  during  the  period  among 
the  Fante  tribes.  ''Great  is  the  bloodless  triumph  which  Christian- 
ity has  achieved  over  idolatry  in  titis  country  in  consequence  of 
the  recent  exposure  of  the  tricks  connected  with  the  worship  of 
fetish.  The  confidence  of  the  people  here  and  in  the  neighbourhood 
has  been  very  much  shaken.  The  national  gods  of  the  Fantes, 
Nanamu,  are  now  forsaken,  and  no  one  goes  to  their  groves  to 
consult  them  now.  Tliis  could  never  liave  been  accomplished  by 
any  human  power,  but  the  preaching  of  Christ  crucified.  The  present 
state  of  the  people  is,  that  they  now  stand  halting  between  two 
opinions.  Our  energies  are  therefore  required  to  win  them  for 
Christ...  In  Asafa  paganism  stands  tottering,  and  there  are  hopes 
of  its  downfall  in  some  future  day,  and  making  way  for  the  tri- 
umphant wheels  of  the  gospel  chariot."' 

The  following  statistics  of  185o,  the  year  immediately  following 
that  in  which  the  great  Fante  fetish  fell,  wdll  give  an  idea  of  the 
rapid  manner  the  work  of  evangelization  had  prospered  after  the 
occurrences  above  referred  to.  The  number  of  members,  which 
was  857  just  three  years  ago,  ran  up  to  1124;  scholars  1242,  mis- 
sionaries 9,  chapels  lo,  preaching-houses  IH. 

The  success  of  missionary  work,  however,  was  at  this  time  being 
confined  only  to  the  coast.  There  had  been  no  such  revolutions 
for  good,  respecting  fetish  worship,  in  Asante,  as  had  taken  place 
on  the  coast.  And  even  the  few  whose  hearts  were  inclined  to 
receive  the  gospel  could  not  come  forward  for  fear  of  their  despotic 
king,  who  would  surely  have  them  butchered,  should  they  depart 
from  that  religion  (fetishism)  to  whicli  himself  was  devoted.  The 
Rev.  T.  Laing  who  was  residing  in  Kumase  in  the  year  18.53  says 
in  his  report: 

"The  state  of  the  work  of  God  in  Asante  is  rather  discouraging 
at  present,  from  the  circumstance  of  the  people  being  afraid  to 
expose  themselves  to  the  ire  of  the  king,  whose  frown  is  indeed 
death  for  people  becoming  christians.  Many  of  the  Asantes  are 
wishful  to  embrace  Christianity,  but  they  are  afraid  to  come  for- 
ward. The  Asantes  are  not  free  people,  they  are  fast  bound  in  the 
chains  of  despotism,  so  nuich  so,  that  no  one  dares  to  do  what  he 


Chapter  XIX.  243 

fliiuks  proiier  in  his  eyes,  how  good  soever  the  lliiiig  may  be.  Tliey 
alwa,ys  do  whatever  the  i^ing  sanctions,  whether  good  or  bad,  so 
that,  the  king  himself  being  a  pagan  still,  they  all  remain  pagans 
still.''  '       - 

About  this  time  hostilities  took  place  between  the  protected  terri- 
tories and  Asante.  The  missionary,  Rev.  T.  Laing,  was  shut  up  from 
all  communications  with  the  coast  till  the  restoration  of  peace.  He 
then  was  relieved  b3''  a  catechist,  Mr.  Watts,  the  last  of  the  society's 
servants  in  that  hot-bed  of  cruel  superstitions.  This  devoted  man 
plodded  on  this  uncongenial  soil  up  to  tlie  war  of  1863.  Like  his 
predecessor,  he  also  was  a  prisoner  at  large  for  years  till  peace 
Avas  made  and  he  was  removed.  Since  that  time  no  footing  has 
been  gained  by  the  mission  in  Kumase.  All  attempts  at  re-estab- 
lishment were  frustrated  by  the  machinations  of  the  wily  despots, 
till  the  capture  of  Kumase  in  1874,  when  the  mission  was  again 
introduced  into  Adanse,  Bekwae,  and  other  chief  towns,  only  to 
collapse  after  a  few  years'  working,  by  the  internal  wars  of  the 
various  tribes.  To-day  the  thousands  of  Asante  still  grope  in  heathen 
darkness,  still  rejecting  the  healing  beams  of  gospel  light. 

In  Cape  Coast  a  boarding  department  was  opened,  to  which 
children  from  the  various  stations  were  drafted  for  training;  the 
girls  were  placed  under  Miss  Elizabeth  Waldron  according  to  an 
agreement  between  her  and  the  mission.  This  very  needful  de- 
partment  was  given  up  in  the  year  1853. 

The  staff  of  native  ministers  was  being  gradually  increased.  In  18.52 
Mr.  .lames  A.  Solomon  was  recommended  to  the  English  conference 
as  assistant  missionary  on  probation,  and  in  1853  Edward  .lonah 
Fynn  and  Edward  Bickersteth  were  also  recommended.  The  con- 
dition of  the  mission  was  one  of  steady  progress  from  1853.  In 
1856,  the  statistics  showed  12  missionaries  and  assistant  mission- 
aries, 20  chapels,  16  preaching  houses,  20.53  members,  1439  scholars 
and  7420  attendants  at  public  worship.  Messrs.  William  C.  Fynn? 
.John  Plange,  Henry  F.  Morgue,  and  Peter  W.  Bernasko  were  added 
to  the  staff  of  native  ministers  during  the  year.  Within  the  same 
year  a  deputation  from  the  Home  Committee,  the  Rev.  Daniel  West, 
arrived  for  the  purpose  of  inquiring  into  the  financial  condition  of 
the  district,  accompanied  by  the  Rev.  William  West  who  was  to 
supersede  Mr.  Freeman  as  General  Superintendent.  At  the  district 
meeting  held  on  .January  14^'>,  1857,  Mr.  Daniel  West  presided. 
During  the  short  interval  between  the  date  of  his  landing  and  the 

16* 


344  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

time  of  the  holding-  of  the  district  meeting-,  he  had  by  his  kindness 
and  fidelity  won  tlie  sympathy  of  all  the  brethren  in  the  district 
as  well  as  the  people  generally.  The  following-  is  the  testimony 
of  the  brethren  concerning-  this  godly  man  at  the  close  of  the 
district  meeting.  ''The  brethren  cannot  allow  themselves  to  sepa- 
rate withont  recording  their  thanks  to  the  committee  for  appointing 
a  deputation  to  visit  their  district  to  inquire  into  the  spiritual  and 
financial  state,  and  at  the  same  time  expressing-  their  high  sense 
of  the  qualifications  of  the  Rev.  Daniel  West  for  the  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  his  important  appointment.  The  kindness,  faithfulness 
and  ability  which  have  characterised  Mr.  West's  intercourse  with 
the  brethren  both  in  j>ublic  and  private,  have  produced  on  their 
minds  the  most  favourable  impression,  and  the  recollections  of  his 
visit,  so  far  as  he  may  have  been  personally  concerned,  will  ever 
be  of  the  most  pleasing-  kind.'" 

Mr.  W.  West  became  the  chairman  and  General  Superintendent 
from  this  year  instead  of  Mr.  Freeman  who  voluntarily  retired.  In 
the  mysterious  providence  of  the  Almighty  the  beloved  man.  Rev. 
Daniel  West,  who  was  expected  to  set  the  work  on  the  Gold  Coast 
in  a  better  light  before  the  Wesleyan  public  in  England,  and  thereby 
elicit  more  sympathy  and  support,  died  at  Gambia  on  his  way 
homewards.  At  the  district  meeting  this  year  the  name  of  Frederick 
France  was  added  to  the  list  of  native  missionaries. 

The  Home  Committee  had  desired  the  European  missionaries  to 
acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  native  languages;  but  owing  to  their 
short  turn  of  service  on  account  of  the  climate,  all  attempts  on  their 
part  to  do  so  had  proved  fruitless.  In  1858  the  committee  through 
Dr.  Hoole  wrote  to  the  chairman  of  the  district,  recommending  the  ne- 
cessity of  translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  vernacular.  The  following 
is  the  recorded  reply  of  the  district  committee:  "The  brethren  are 
fully  alive  to  the  necessity  of  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into 
the  Fante  language;  but  as  the  missionaries  of  the  Basel  society 
have  in  hand  such  a  translation  into  the  Otyi  language,  the  breth- 
ren are  of  opinion  that  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  they 
shall  be  able  to  avail  themselves  of  the  aid  thus  afforded,  by  making 
the  necessary  alteration  to  meet  their  case.  The  translation  of  a 
portion  of  the  gospel  of  St.  Matthew  by  brother  Laing  having  been 
given  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hart  on  his  leaving  the  district  and 
Mr.  Laing  not  having  retained  a  copy  of  the  same,  the  brethren 
are  not  in  circimistances  to  form   an  opinion  on  the  merits  ot   the 


Chapter  XIX.  245 

same  or  of  the  success  likely  to  attend  his  undertakiiig-  in  such  a 
\york.  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  ascertain  the  number  of  those 
who  speak  Faute  by  a  reference  to  the  poll-tax  returns,  it  is  about 
500,000;  the  number  calling  tlieniselves  Christians  must  be  about 
10,000;  and  possibly  Ys  <^>'  these  may  be  capable  of  reading  English. 
At  pi-esent  the  use  of  the  Faiite  Scriptures  woidd  be  very  limited, 
but  in  the  event  of  our  adoiitiiig  the  plan  of  teaching  in  the  native 
language  in  our  schools  in  the  interior,  their  use  would  be  very 
greatly  incieased." 

The  above  remarks  explain  why  the  work  of  translating  the 
Scriptures  into  Fante  was  not  taken  up  in  time.  It  was,  however, 
a  great  mistake.  Had  our  missionaries  fully  recognised  the  import- 
ance of  native  literature,  and  encouraged  such  of  the  native  min- 
isters as  wore  competent,  Mr.  Laing  for  instance,  to  undertake  the 
work  of  translation,  our  Mission  would  have  been  more  progress- 
ive, our  converts  more  intelligent,  and  gospel  truths  much  more 
diffused  amongst  the  nuisses.  Latterly  this  mistake  was  seen  and 
efforts  put  forth  to  meet  the  want,  but  though  something  has  been 
done,  we  are  still  left  far  behind  in  this  very  important  and  in- 
dispensable department  of  our  work  by  this  fundamental  error.*) 

^Ir.  William  West  returned  to  England  on  a  furlough  in  18b0; 
and  during  his  absence  tlie  oflice  of  the  chairman  was  filled  by 
the  Rev.  Henry  Wharton.  During  the  three  following  years  the 
following  missionaries  arrived  on  the  Coast:  Messrs.  Agur  B.Gardiner, 
Alfred  Taylor,  George  Davis  and  Christopher  B.  Sj'kes.  These  were 
immediately  followed  by  Messrs.  H.  H.  lliclimond,  .Tames  Cuthbert 
and  George  Robinson.  Mr.  West  returned  to  the  chairmanship 
with  the  three  latter  gentlemen,  and  was  presiding  at  the  district 
meeting  held  in  January  14^'',  18(54. 

Statistical  Returns  of  the  Wesleyan  Methodists  for  1890. 

The  Gold  Cost  district  is  divided  into  two  sections :  Cape  Coast 
section  and  Akra  section,  with  7  circuits,  viz.,  Cape  Coast,  Anomabo, 
Abora,  Elmina,  **)  Winneba,   Akra  and  Aburi. 


*)  Although  it  is  an  error,  we  hope  it  would  be  easily  remedied,  if 
our  brethren  of  the  Wesleyan  Mission  body,  both  Europeans  and  Na- 
tives, would  be  willing-  to  meet  the  Basel  i\Iission  body  for  the  purpose 
of  effecting  some  alterations  in  our  Tshi  Bible  to  meet  the  common 
object  of  both  Missions.  —  R. 

**)'  A  Roman  Catholic  Mission,  of  the  African  Missions  of  Lyons,  has 
been  established  at  Elmina.   —  Chr. 


246  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaiite. 

Chapels,  60 '^  other  preaching  places,  224;  European  missionaries,  4; 
native  ministers,  18;  assistant  missionaries,  22;  catechists,  45;  day-school 
teachers,  53;  sabbath-school  teachers,  170;  local  preachers,  319;  full 
and  accredited  church  members,  5,812  ;  on  trial  members,  486 ;  sabltath- 
schools,  34;  sabbath- scholars,  2,908;  day-schools,  35;  day-scholars,  1,710; 
attendants  on  public   worship,   18,216. 

A  Wesleyan  mission  exists  also  at  Little  Popo,  the  place  to  which  the 
Akras  repeatedly  took  refuge.  In  1894  there  was  one  (German)  mis- 
sionary with  about  200  church  members  in  3  places,  and  about  200  scholars. 

A  brief  history   of  the  Bremen  Evangelical  Mission 

on  the  Gold  Coast,  or  rather,    in  the  countries  east  of  the   Volta, 

adjuining   the  Gold   Coast. 

The  North  German  Missionary  Society  was  founded  in  Hamburg  in 
the  year  1836,  and  the  first  missionaries  of  this  society  were  sent  out 
to  the  East  Indies  and  New  Zealand.  On  the  5'^'  of  May  1847,  these 
four  missionaries,  viz ,  Messrs.  L.  AVolf,  L.  Hultmann,  Jens  Graff"  and 
Ch.  Flato,  landed  at  Cape  Coast,  with  the  view  of  selecting  a  suitable 
region  on  the  West  Coast  for  the  operation  of  their  missionary  society. 
The  Wesleyan  missionaries  then  at  Cape  Coast  very  cordially  received 
them ;  and  shortly  after  their  arrival,  they  received  orders  from  their 
committee  to  begin  the  missionary   work  at  Gaboon. 

Mr.  Wolf  and  Mr.  Bultmann  then  embarked  for  Gaboon,  leaving  the 
other  two  missionaries  behind  them.  Very  unfortunately  both  mission- 
aries were  attacked  with  fever  during  their  voyage.  Mr.  Wolf  recovered, 
but  Mr.  liultniann  died  on  the  5"'  of  June  in  King  Glass  Town  in 
Gaboon ;  so  Mr.  Wolf  was  left  alone.  He  went  on,  however,  fearlessly 
seeking  a  region  for  missionary  work.  He  might  have  succeeded  iu 
settling  at  (raboon,  had  not  the  French  cominandaut  driven  him  from 
the  place  by  force.  Mr.  Wolf  consequently  returned  to  Cape  Coast,  where 
lie  met  Mr.  .J.  Graft"  alone;  because  Mr.  Flato  had  also  been  removed  by 
death  on  the  14"'   of  June. 

The  two  surviving  Hamburg  missionaries  therefore  left  Cape  Coast  for 
Christiansborg,  and  were  joyfully  welcomed  by  the  Basel  missionaries 
and  the  then  Danish  governor  Mr.  Schmidt.  They  were  lodged  iu  tiie 
Basel  Mission  House,  very  kindly  treated  by  their  missionary  l)rethren, 
and  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  start  their  mission.  During  their  stay 
iu  Christiansborg  Mr.  Wolf  and  Mr  Graff"  assisted  occasionally  in  school- 
work  and  in  preaching.  And  fortunately,  one  of  the  mission  house 
schoolboys,  Nyafikomago,  the  son  of  the  king  of  Peki,  told  the  mission- 


Chapter  XIX.  247 

aries  that  his  fatlier  Kwadsho  Dei  would  be  very  glad  to  receive  the 
white  teachers  in  his  country.  Thus  the  luud  of  Krepe  (as  the  Eu- 
ropeans then  called  the  country  of  the  Ephe  speaking  people)  was  chosen 
for  their  mission  work.  Mr.  Wolf  then  left  for  Peki,  and  was  joyfully 
welcomed  by  the  king  and  his  people.  He  got  a  piece  of  land  from 
the  king  and  began  at  once  to  build  a  house  for  himself.  But  when 
jn-oposing  of  coming  down  to  Akra  to  fetch  Mr.  Graff,  he  received  the 
sad  news,  that  he  also  had  died  on  the  1 1*^»  November  1847.  Thus 
from  the  5"'  May  to  11*'>  November  1847,  within  6  months,  three  mission- 
aries had  been  called  to  their  eternal   rest! 

Mr.  Wolf  had  again  to  stand  alone  in  the  Krepe  land,  as  once  in  the 
(Jaboon,  and  that  moreover  with  no  connection  with  the  coast  excei)t 
by  the  Basel  missionaries.  Yet  he  went  on  with  his  work  in  Christian 
fortitude  without  fear.  The  pity  then  was  that  he  did  not  understand 
the  language  and  was  at  the  mercy  of  bis  interpreter,  who  very  ofteu' 
deceived  him.  He  wrote  to  Hamburg  for  a  re-inforcement  of  the  mission,, 
but  had  to  wait  a  long  time  before  ]\Ir.  Groth  and  Mr.  Quinius  arrived 
at  Akra  in  February  1849;  and  in  March  the  following  year  Mr.  Wolf 
got  his  partner  Mrs.  Wolf  at  a  time  when  his  health  was  broken  and 
he  was  suffering  from  an  attack  of  drojjsy.  In  January  1851  not  only 
]\Ir.  and  Mrs.  Wolf  were  forced  to  leave  this  important  sphere  of  labour, 
but  also  Mr.  Groth  and  Mr.  Quinius  left  for  Europe  in  consequence  of 
broken  health.  In  the  harbour  of  Hamburg,  Mr.  Wolf  breathed  his  last 
to  be  for  ever  with  his  Lord.  Thus  ended  the  first  period  of  the  North 
(Jerman   Mission  in   Western  Africa. 

In  the  year  1850 — 1851,  the  missionary  society  was  translocated  from 
Hamburg  to  Bremen.  From  that  time  an  arrangement  was  made  between 
the  two  committees  of  Basel  and  Bremen,  that  the  former  undertook 
voluntarily  to  supply  the  latter  with  missionaries  tor  the  field.  The 
first  two  mis.sionaries  from  Basel  were  Mr.  W.  Diluble  and  Mr.  J.  Menge; 
these  accompanied  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Quinius  to  Peki  in  1851.  l>ut  on 
April  23,  Mr.  Menge  died.  Mr.  Dauble,  being  convinced  that  the  mission 
ought  to  start  from  the  coast,  wrote  several  letters  to  the  committee 
about  it,  but  they  did  not  approve  it.  Mrs.  Quinius  falling  sick,  Mr. 
Quinius  was  compelled  to  leave  Peki  for  Christiansborg  for  a  change, 
and  as  no  improvement  ensued,  they  were  forced  to  leave  for  Europe. 
Mr.  Dauble  had  to  wait  at  Christiansborg  for  a  re-inforcement  of  the 
missi(m,  when  in  January  1853  Mr.  Plessing  and  Mr.  Brutschin  arrived. 
His  first  ([uestion  to  the  new  missionaries  was,  "Where  shall  we  go  ? 
Where  shall   we  begin   now?''    Their  reply   was,   "to  Peki  again!"   This 


•J48  History  of  the  C4ol(l   Coast  and  Asante. 

was  very  hard  for  Mr.  I)iiiil)le,  who  was  fully  convinced  that  the  mission 
ought  to  start  from  the  coast.  However,  in  obedience  of  faith,  he  brought 
his  Itrethren  to  Peki.  All  the  buildings  of  the  late  Mr.  Wolf  were  in 
ruins;  the  roofs  had  been  eaten  up  by  the  white  ants,  and  so  rain  de- 
molished every  thing.  New  Iniildings  were  erected,  and  with  joy  they 
began  their  difficult  work,  which  now  showed  signs  of  progress.  fSchools 
were  opened,  and  the  preaching  of  the  glorious  (iospel  was  listened  to 
by  the  people. 

But  then  suddenly,  they  received  intelligence  from  the  IJasel  mission- 
aries at  Akra,  to  quit  their  })romising  sphere  for  Akra  as  hastily  as 
possible,  because  the  Akw^amus,  old  enemies  of  the  Krepe  people,  had 
invited  the  Asantes  to  invade  the  land.  'I'hey  accordingly  came  to 
( Jhristiansborg,  reported  the  state  of  things  to  their  committee,  asked 
whether  they  might  be  allow^ed  to  start  their  mission  at  Keta,  and  a- 
waited  their  reply.  The  Committee  agreed  to  their  request,  and  on 
September  o,  1853,  Mr.  Plessing  and  Mr.  Diiuble  went  to  Keta  and  began 
the  mission.  In  1856  tlie  station  of  Waya  was  founded  among  the 
Adaklu  tribe:  in  1857  Anyako  was  the  next  station,  l)Ut  being  unhealthy, 
a  new  settlement.  Ho,  was  in  1859  taken  up  as  the  })rincipal  station  in 
the  Krepe  land.  In  1869  tlie  tiourishing  Ho  station  was  destroyed  by 
the  Asantes,  but  was  rebuilt  in  1876.  The  Bremen  missionary  work, 
after  34  years'  labour,  assnmed  a  joyful  aspect  and  conld  show  marked 
progress  in   1881. 

Ho  in  the  Krepe  land  had  6  out-stations,  including  Waya,  and  Keta 
on  the  coast  had  4,  including  Anyako.  In  1890  a  healthy  mountain- 
station,  2300'  above  the  sea,  was  built  at  Amedjophe.  On  Dec.  31,  1893, 
the  3  stations  had  20  out-stations,  20  schools,  1247  church  members, 
591  scholars.  The  Gospel  had  been  preached  in  1893  at  313  places. 
The  number  of  missionaries  in  Oct.  1894  was  18,  ladies  10  (including 
8  deaconesses),  native  assistants  37.  Tlie  loss  which  the  Bremen  mission  has 
sustained  from  1847  up  to   1894  is,   63  missionaries  and  missionary  wives. 

Whilst  Keta  and  the  Anglo  tribe  were  deemed  subject  to  the  Danes 
and  since  1850  to"  the  English,  the  various  Ephe  tribes  in  the  interior 
were  independent.  But  in  October  1886,  many  of  them  placed  them- 
selves under  the  protection  of  the  English,  as  other  tribes  had  accepted 
the  German  tiag.  By  the  treaties  of  1890  between  England  and  Germany 
concerning  their  possessions  and  spheres  of  influence  in  several  parts  of 
Africa,  only  some  parts  of  the  Ephe  speaking  tribes  remained  under  the 
English,  and  the  greater  part  are  under  the  Germans.  I'he  Keta  station 
with  4  out-stations  and  277  Christians  and  5  out-stations  of  Ho  (especially 
those  of  Peki)  with  474  Christians  are  in  the  English  territory.  Ho 
station   with  6  out-stations    and   289   Christians,    Amedjophe  with  4  out- 


Cliapter  XIX.  249 

stations  and   171  Christians  and  1  out-station  of  Keta,  Tove  (with   Denu 
and  Lome),   with  36   (Jhristians  are   in  the  German  territory. 

lumian  Catholic  missions  also  were  established  at  Keta  in  the  English 
territory  and  (in  1892)  at  Little  Popo  (Adjido),  Lome  and  Togo,  with 
(5   priests   and  8   lay-hrethren   in    1894,   185  scholars  and   130  adults, 

Tlio  Church  of  England,  which  now  comes  last,  was  rather  con- 
temporary with  the  Moravians;  she  began  her  work  on  the  (rold 
Coast  in  the  year  ITol,  The  Kcv,  Thomas  Thompson,  as  already 
remarked,  was  sent  out  by  a  section  of  the  Church  known  as  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  tlie  Gospel.  The  missionaries  sent 
out  attempted  the  evang-elization  of  the  people,  but  the  severity  of 
the  climate  and  the  number  of  deaths  among  them,  caused  them 
to  cease  from  their  work  for  a  time.  It  was  through  Mr.  Thompson 
that  Philip  Kwaku  was  trained  up,  ordained  and  sent  out  in  1765. 
He  laboured  as  chaplain  till  1816,  after  which  no  permanent  work 
was  established.  Yet  these  short-timed  efforts  at  diderent  dates 
left  some  seeds  in  good  soil  for  future  growth,  and  the  self-sacri- 
licing  heroes  of  the  Gospel  left  their  foot-prints  behind  for  others 
to  find  them  after  they  had  become  victims  to  the  terrible  eftects 
of  the  climate,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  introduction  of  the  history 
of  the  Wesleyans. 

It  was  in  1879  that  the  Right  Reverend  Dr.  Cheetham,  Bishop 
of  the  diocese  of  Sierra-Leone,  in  which  the  Gold  Coast  is  included^ 
visited  Akra.  On  his  arrival,  a  number  of  leading  natives,  as, 
Messrs.  J.  O.  Brown,  Alex.  Bruce,  Thos.  F.  Bruce,  Ph.  ('.  Reindorf, 
John  and  Isaac  Vanderpuye  and  others,  waited  on  him,  and  pointed 
out  the  need  of  the  establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  here. 

Soon  after  this  meeting,  a  young  native  clergyman.  Reverend 
W,  .Johnson,  was  sent  out  here,  who  laboured  zealously  and  earnestly 
for  over  three  years.  Illness  caused  him  to  resign  his  office  and 
return  to  Sierra-Leone,  where  his  remains  w^ere  laid  in  his  owii 
native  home  and  soil.  After  a  short  Interval,  during  which  the 
native  members  endeavoured  by  their  service  to  keep  the  tlame  of 
spiritual  life  alive  and  the  embers  of  the  altar  from  dying  out, 
another  native  missionary  of  Sierra-Leone,  Rev.  F.  W.  Smart,  came 
to  take  up  the  work  and  gave  his  supjtort  for  about  one  year. 

Some  time  after  this,  Dr.  Ingham,  the  present  Bishop  of  Sierra- 
Leone,  visited  Akra,  and  with  the  help  of  the  governor  of  the  col- 
ony, Sir  W.  Brandford  Grilfith,  a  new  plan  for  the  reconstruction 
of  the  church  of  England  Brancli  in  Akra  was  discussed  and  settled. 


250  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  nnd   Asaiite. 

SO  tliat  the  clmrch  was  placed  on  a  more  selt-sapportiug-  basis. 
The  Rev.  D.  ir.  \Viinaiiis,  a  native  of  Sierra-Leone,  was  licensed 
by  the  Bishop  to  the  charge  of  it  in  188G.  Since  that  time  stated 
services  have  been  held  in  the  District  Commissioner's  Court  at 
Akra  and  at  Christiansborg-  Castle  on  Sundays.  In  1888  a  change 
took  place  again,  which  caused  an  extension  of  this  good  work  in 
the  colony,  and  gave  it  a  still  more  solid  foundation.  A  colonial 
chaplain.  Rev.  Maxwell,  a  native  of  Sierra-Leone,  had  been  oftici- 
ating  at  Cape  Coast  in  a  church  which  had  been  built  there  between 
the  years  1861  and  1863  by  the  war  officers"  and  by  private  sub- 
scriptions. His  retirement  at  this  time  was  the  means  of  transferring- 
the  Rev.  D,  (1.  Williams  from  Akra  to  Cape  Coast  as  assistant 
chaplain  and  of  bringing  out  a  European,  Rev.  .John  H.  Davies,  M.  A., 
as  colonial  chaplain  of  the  (jold  Coast,  whose  residence  should  be 
at  iVkra.  This  has  been  the  means  of  conducting-  earnest  and  sub- 
stantial work  in  Akra  and  Cape  Coast,  of  extending  the  work  by 
sowing  the  seed  broadcast,  by  Gosj)el  preachings  and  by  good  works 
of  various  kind,  and  especially  by  constant  daily  work  among  tlie 
surrounding  heathen.  The  colony  is  large  and  teeming  with  souls. 
The  missions  already  at  work  invite  the  aid  of  others  to  help  them; 
and  although  Akra  and  Cape  Coast  are  the  only  places  where  Church 
work  is  carried  on,  still  by  God's  help,  we  trust  that  from  these 
places  labourers  will  go  forth. 

Statistics  of  the  Anglican  Church,  Akra:  communicants  6U;  suiiday- 
scholars  100;  attendants  on  })ublic  worship  400.  —  Cape  Coast:  com- 
municants 30;  sunda^'-scholars  3.30;  attendants  on  public  worshi[i  450. 

May  the  Lord,  the  head  of  His  church,  pour  out  more  of  His 
spirit  on  all  the  labourers  engaged  in  the  missions  of  all  the  de- 
nominations who  are  toiling  for  the  salvation  of  the  Gold  Coast  people! 
We  call  on  all  who  are  benefited,  spiritually  and  temporally,  by 
these  missions,  to  su^iport  them  by  their  godly  lives  as  well  as  by 
their  money.  An  object  which  all  the  missions  are  aiming  at,  is, 
that  their  congregations  may  become  self-supporting.  And  we  call 
particularly  on  tlie  members  and  scholars  of  the  Basel  Mission  to 
do  more  than  what  the}^  have  done  hitherto:  because  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  a  self-supporting  church,  our  mission  established 
the  industrial  departments. 

And  casting  a  glance  at  the  vigorously  carrying  on  of  the  missions 
still,  after  so  many  sacrifices  of  valuable  lives,  we  Mud  the  excellent 
hymn  of  Bishop  Heber  thereby  verih'ed : 


Chapter  XX.  251 

Can  we,   whose  souls  are  lighted      with   wisdom   from  on  hi;^h, 
Can   we  to  meu  beuighted     the  lamp  of  life  deny?  — 
Salvation!   O   salvation!      The  joyful   sound  proclaim, 
Till  each  remotest  nation      has  learnt  ^[essiah's  name. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

The  expedition  under  Chief  Aukra  to   Bame  1829. 

Elated  l)y  the  late  victories  over  the  Asaiites,  tlie  Akras  could 
easily  manage  to  organize  an  expedition  to  foreign  countries,  as 
they  were  reported  to  have  done  in  former  times.  They  were  fully 
convinced  that  their  enemies  would  bow  to  their  military  prowes.s. 

Previous  to  the  expedition  there  was  in  Otu  Street  in  Dutch  Akra 
a  petty  dealer  called  Dodu  Knnui,  who  employed  Akomea  Kwame 
of  the  same  place  as  a  load-carrier  to  Peki,  capital  of  Krepe.  Some 
of  his  goods  were  sold  at  Ahodome,  but  finding  no  sutiticient  hands 
to  convey  all  the  cowries  to  Peki,  he  was  obliged  to  leave  some 
heads  in  charge  of  his  landlord  Edufy.  Akomea  Kwame  was  sent 
to  bring  the  cowries  over,  which  were,  of  course,  delivered  to  him 
by  the  landlord:  but  on  his  way  up  to  Peki,  just  reaching  the  top 
of  Tshibu  hill,  he  was  overtaken  by  Edufo  with  his  friend  Duduvg. 
They  all  on  a  sudden  fell  upon  Akomea,  snatched  the  load  from 
his  hands,  murdered  him  barbarously,  and  hid  his  body  under  a 
rock.  For  two  days  Akomea  did  not  return  home,  hence  Dodu 
despatched  messengers  to  Ahodome  to  ask  after  him.  Edufo  tohl 
the  messengers  that  he  had  three  days  before  delivered  up  the 
cowries  to  Akomea  and  that  he  had  returned. 

When  the  two  murderers  Eldufo  and  Duduvo  were  sharing  the 
ill-gotten  booty,  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  them.  Prince  Ado 
Kwadwo  of  Akwamn  happened  to  be  in  town  that  day.  He  heard 
of  the  matter  and  informed  his  father  Akoto  what  a  hideous  murder 
had  been  committed  at  Ahodome.  The  king  thereupon  sent  his 
son  Ado  with  linguist  Gyensanom  and  a  detachment  of  10()  men 
to  Ahodome  to  require  the  chief  Ado  Kokroko  of  the  place  tu 
search  for  the  murderers.  With  the  assistance  of  Adsheshi,  an 
intluential  man  of  the  place,  the  murderers  were  found  out,  arrested 
by  the  chief,  and  sent   to  Akwamn.     They    were  judged  and  con- 


252  History  of  the   Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

demiied  by  the  king,  delivered  up  to  Kwadwo  Ntsherema,  and  sent 
to  Akra  with  the  body  of  the  deceased.  Sentenced  to  death  by 
king-  Taki,  they  w.ere  beheaded  by  the  executioners  Ashong  Nketia 
and  Kwaku  Mensa.  The  linguist  Gyensanoni  and  his  party,  who 
escorted  the  criminals,  were  sent  back  to  Akwaniu  with  thanks, 

A  few  months  after  the  execution  of  the  murderers,  a  dispute 
arose  between  two  towns  in  Krepe  about  an  elephant  killed.  A 
hunter  by  the  name  Akwabina  Dadshavva  of  Adshokoi  met  an 
elephant  in  the  bush,  but  could  not  shoot  him;  so  the  animal  es- 
caped towards  Ahodome.  A  few  minutes  later  he  heard  the  firing 
of  a  musket  in  that  direction.  He  soon  after  saw  the  same  animal 
retreating  to  the  old  place,  and  shot  him  down. 

The  hunter  who  had  fired  first,  and  who  was  from  Ahodome, 
came  now  to  the  spot  and  contended  that  he  had  been  the  one 
who  killed  the  animal.  But  after  a  short  time  their  friends  appeared 
from  both  towns  and  shared  the  flesh.  The  Adshokois  claimed  the 
head  tor  Akoto,  king  of  Akwamu,  whilst  the  people  from  Ahodome 
claimed  it  for  Adsheshi.  The  quarrel  was  finally  settled  by  each 
party  obtaining  a  tusk.  The  Adshokois,  discontented,  reported  at 
the  next  town,  Kpalime-brofbng,  that  one  of  them  had  killed  an 
elei»hant  with  the  intention  to  present  the  ivory  to  Akoto,  but  had 
been  deprived  of  one  tusk  l;)y  a  party  from  Ahodome,  who  had 
sworn  to  present  it  to  Adsheshi  instead  of  the  king.  The  inhabitants 
suddenly  rushed  upon  the  Ahodomes,  carried  off  their  tusk,  and 
then  sent  both  to  the  king.  They  reported  every  thing  connected 
with  the  ivory  to  the  king,  who  upon  inquiry  found  that  tlie  animal 
was  not  killed  in  the  bush  of  Ahodoijie,  despatched  messengers  to 
congratulate  the  Adshokois,  and  assured  them  that  he  was  ready 
to  fight  the  Ahodomes  in  case  they  dared  to  molest  them.  Adsheshi 
was  in  the  meanwhile  informed  of  what  had  happened,  and  im- 
mediately resorted  to  arms.  Witli  the  assistance  of  the  people  of 
Kpalime  he  attacked  Adshokoi  and  slew  or  captured  great  numbers. 
The  king's  messengers  reached  Adshokoi  too  late,  however  he  was 
informed  in  time  of  the  attack,  and  forthwith  marched  against  the 
Ahodomes,  when  he  blockaded  the  way  to  Boso.  The  following 
towns  confederated  against  the  king:  Tshito,  Onyerewase,  Kwanta, 
Avengu,  Patakrowase,  Tshibu,  Nketieso,  Adame  and  Agome;  their 
principal  chiefs  were.  Ado  Horoko  (Kokroko)  of  Ahodome,  Adsheshi, 
and  Adabo  of  Tshito.  The  next  morning  at  6  o'clock,  Akoto  des- 
patched messengers  to  summon  chief  Dra  and  his  captains  Awukupo, 


Chapter  XX.  253 

Nyame  Dadshawa,  and  Kofi  Akrashi  of  Kpaliine  to  meet  liiiii,  and 
request  the  Akra  traders  in  town  to  pack  up  their  goods  to  avoid 
being  plundered  by  the  warriors. 

Akwabina  Dunu  of  Kpalime,  having  set  out  with  his  wife  for 
Hoso,  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall  into  their  hands.  He  was  be- 
headed and  his  head  thrown  into  the  town.  The  iidiabitants  being- 
thus  incited,  the  attack  there  and  then  began.  It  was  most  fearful! 
The  Kpalime  people  were  compelled  to  retreat;  their  town  was 
captured,  but  no  one  touched  anything  belonging  to  the  Akras. 
They  retreated  through  Agodome  to  Kpalime-brotong,  hence  the 
king  retired  to  camp  at  Kpalime.  Adsheshi  had  hired  a  large  army 
from  Several  towns  to  assist  him  against  Akoto,  and  with  them  he 
attacked  the  king  very  hotly,  but  was  driven  back  with  loss  to 
Bame;  and  there  the  king  encamped.  Having  been  re-inforced  by 
a  larger  number  of  the  Krepes,  the  Ahodomes  repeated  the  attack 
on  the  following  morning,  which  forced  the  king  to  march  back  to 
Kpalime,  where  he  could  neither  retreat  further  to  Akwamu,  nor 
take  the  held  against  so  numerous  and  powerful  an  army. 

While  Akoto  was  thus  so  perplexed  as  how  to  carry  on  the  war 
with  success  against  the  Krepes,  Adsheshi  was  very  actively  en- 
gaged in  re-inforcing  his  army  daily  by  other  Krepe  tribes.  He  got 
a  large  army  from  Avatime,  Angula,  etc.,  and  could  have  succeeded 
in  obtaining  the  whole  Krepe  forces,  if  Kwadsho  Dei,  the  Krepe 
king,  who  was  then  in  alliance  with  Akoto,  could  have  been  in- 
duced to  withdraw  from  his  allegiance.  That  would  have  certainly 
put  an  end  to  the  Akwamus  already  at  that  time. 

Now  there  was  an  Akra  linguist  A  were  Boi  in  camp  with  Akoto, 
who  advised  him  to  ask  the  assistance  of  the  Akras.  He  said, 
''You  have  recently  joined  the  Akras  against  Asante,  and  being 
now  in  trouble,  I  iam  quite  certain,  my  people  could  consent  to 
render  you  assistance,  if  you  would  only  send  me  first  to  the  king, 
to  prepare  the  way  for  your  success."  A  were  Boi  was  commis- 
sioned to  Akra,  and  being  a  linguist,  he  knew  how  to  manage  to 
obtain  their  consent.  He  went  back  to  Akoto  who  was  still  in 
camp,  and  captain  Aforo  was  then  commissioned  to  Akra  with 
12  slaves  and  some  money,  as  presents  to  king  Taki  and  his  chiefs. 
The  message  was  thus  delivered,  "Since  Akoto  returned  from  Kata- 
mansu,  his  Krepe  subjects  had  become. unruly,  and  were  trying  to 
throw  otf  their  allegiance  to  him.  The  king  therefore  commissioned 
me  to  crave  the  assistance  of  king  Taki  and  the  Akras." 


254  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

King-  Taki  called  a  meeting  of  all  his  great  chief's,  such  as  Akwete 
Krgbo  Saki,  Akotia  Owosika,  Dodu  Nyang,  Ahuma,  Dgwuona,  etc., 
and  they  unanimously  appointed  chief  Ankra  of  Dutch  Town  as 
commander-in-chief,  and  authorized  him  to  organize  an  army  in 
defence  of  Akoto.  A  Portuguese  slaver  being-  in  the  roads  at  that 
time,  chief  Ankra  arranged  -w'ith  the  captain,  and  obtained  a  large 
amount  of  goods,  arms  and  ammunition,  on  credit,  payable  back 
in  prisoners  after  the  expedition.  He  notified  the  public  that  he 
was  appointed  Ity  the  king  to  organize  an  army  in  defence  of  king 
Akoto,  and  that  whoever  wished  to  join  the  expedition  might  come 
forward  for  any  amount  of  goods  ^on  credit  payable  in  prisoners 
after  the  campaign.  Thus  chief  Ankra  succeeded  in  organizing  an 
army.  Detachments  of  warriors  from  James  Town  to  Ada,  the 
River-side-people,  Shai,  Osudoku  and  Krobo  were  appointed  by 
every  chief  to  join  the  expedition.  Chief  Kwafum  of  Aburi,  with 
a  large  numbei"  of  the  Akuapems,  and  chief  Awua  of  Begoro  in 
Akem  with  about  600  men  also  got  arms  and  ammunition  and 
joined.  The  Krgbos  alone  absented  themselves,  although  they  were 
supplied  with  arms  and  ammunition  when  they  came  for  them. 

In  the  first  week  of  .luly  lf-29  chief  Ankra  started  from  Akra 
with  an  arm}^  of  1.5,000  men,  and  with  three  iron  one-pounder 
field-pieces,  which  were  fired  ever}^  morning  and  evening  during 
their  march  to  frighten  the  enemy.  At  Asutshuare  the  army  was 
by  order  of  Akoto  who  had  sent  two  of  his  captains,  ferried  over  Ofo 
and  Oketeku,  and  the  linguist  Kwa  to  escort  the  army  to  camp. 
They  stayed  one  week  in  Akwamu  and  then  marched  through 
Anum  and  Boso,  where  the  respective  chiefs,  Kumi  and  Kwadsho 
Nyako,  grandly  entertained  them.  They  proceeded  to  Kpalime. 
Here  they  met  with  a  grand  reception;  a  salute  was  fired  b}'^  the 
whole  army,  and  chief  Ankra  swore  in  assurance  to  Akoto  that  he 
had  been  commissioned  by  king  Taki  to  extricate  him  from  any 
embarrassment.  A  three  days  merriment  was  kept  by  all,  and 
after  a  week's  stay  in  camp,  the  whole  arm}'  was  ordered  to  march 
on  one  Tuesday  to  encamp  at  Bame.  On  crossing  the  rivulet  Ame- 
mere,  the  army  was  attacked  by  the  Krepes,  who  could  not  keep 
their  position  and  were  forced  to  give  way.  Not  knowing  that  the 
rivulet  had  been  poisoned  by  the  enemy,  two  Akem  warriors  fell 
dead  on  the  spot  from  having  drunk  the  water.  Putting  fire  to 
Kpalime-brofong,  the  army  encamped  there  as  night  was  coming 
on.     The    march    was    not    resumed    in    consequence    of  rain,    till 


Chapter  XX.  255 

Saturday  next,  when  a  second  attack  was  made,  but  was  repulsed 
with  loss;  they  then  encamped  at  Bame.  On  Monday  next  Akoto 
despatched  messengers  to  inform  the  inhabitants  of  Tokokoi,  Have, 
Nyangmo,  Amfoi,  Avatime  etc.,  that  he  had  returned,  and  wished 
to  know  whether  they  were  for  war  or  for  peace?  Ambassadors 
with  white  flags^  pieces  of  fire-wood  (signifying-  submission  to  servi- 
tude), yams  and  plantains  from  each  and  all  those  [)eople  aforesaid 
came  to  assure  that  they  were  for  peace.  But,  alas,  it  was  the 
known  Krepe  strategy;  early  the  next  morning  they  made  a  severe 
attack;  but  six  of  them  were  captured  by  the  Akras,  sold  to  Akoto 
^.nd  slaughtered,  as  the  owners  did  not  choose  to  kill  them.  The 
army  was  again  attacked,  because  the  enemy  could  not  engage 
openly.  Enraged  by  these  repeated  attacks,  the  Akras  pursued 
the  enemy  as  far  as  Nketieso,  and  there  the  camp  was  fixed  for 
three  weeks,  during  which  time  several  detachments  of  warriors 
were  sent  against  the  enemy's  towns  far  and  near.  Prisoners  and 
provisions  were  captured  plentifully,  and  thereby  the  warriors  ob- 
tained the  necessaries  of  life  daily.  Nearly  all  the  palm-trees  in 
the  country  were  felled    to  provide  the  army  with  wine. 

Chief  Ado  Horoko  of  Ahodome,  moved  by  the  deplorable  condition 
oftheKrepes,  despatched  ambassadors  to  Ankra  pleading  his  inno- 
cence in  the  war  and  desiring  to  know  why  Ankra,  being  an  Akra, 
did  not  do  Justice  by  first  investigating  the  cause  of  the  war;  that 
the  Krepes  had  grown  tired  of  the  whole  aifair,  and  were  longing 
for  peace  at  the  expense  of  Adsheshi,  whom  Ihcy  had  unanimously 
agreed  to  deliver  up  to  Ankra,  to  purchase  peace.  The  unfortunate 
Adsheshi  was  not  aware  of  what  was  going  on  against  him.  The 
camp  was  therefore  removed  from  Nketieso  to  Bame,  where  the 
Krepes  were  ordered  to  assemble.  A  very  large  and  grand  meeting 
was  held  on  the  plains  of  Bame,  chief  Atikra  with  the  forces  under 
him  in  one  direction,  king  Akoto  with  his  in  the  other,  and  all 
the  Krepes  who  had  engaged  in  the  war,  as  well  as  the  Ahodomes 
who  had  sheltered  themselves  in  other  countries  and  towns;  men, 
women  and  children  were  all  brought  together  in  a  very  large  mass. 
Chief  Ankra  thereupon  required  to  know  thereat  cause  of  the  war. 
The  linguist  Kwa  was  ordered  by  the  king  to  present  the  whole 
thing  in  the  hearing  of  the  assembly.  After  him  tlie  linguist  of 
Adsheshi  stood  up  and  began  to  defend  his  master  of  the  charge 
made  by  Kwa.  He  was  assaulted,  the  assembly  moved  and  at 
once  seized  Adsheshi,  who  was  beheaded.  Men,  women,  and  children 


256  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asaute. 

of  Aliodome,  over  2000,  were  all  plundered  instantaneously.  The 
Krepes,  althoug-h  well  armed,  did  not  show  the  least  sign  in  defence 
of  the  unfortunate  people,  knowing  already  what  was  to  take  phice, 
consequently  every  one  was  cooled  down  by  the  beating  of  several 
drums  of  the  army.  When  order  and  silence  had  been  completely 
restored,  the  Krepes  were  asked,  whether  they  had  any  objections 
to  raise  about  that  cruel,  unjustifiable  and  mean  act  of  theirs  V  — 
an  act  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations  herein  violated  in  the  highest 
degree!  They  were  so  coward  as  to  reply  in  the  negative,  and 
thus  the  campaign  was  brought  to  an  end. 

When  the  whole  transaction  was  over,  Akoto  was  trying  to  get 
possession  of  the  head  of  Adsheshi,  which  Ankra  positively  opposed; 
the  jawbone  was,  however,  given  to  him;  the  skull  was  retained 
by  Ankra  as  a  trophy  of  the  expedition.  Most  of  the  Krepes  were 
inclined  to  throw  off  their  allegiance  to  Akoto,  and  to  enter  into 
a  new  alliance  with  Akra;  but  Ankra  objected  to  it,  advised  them 
to  remain  with  their  master  on  condition  that  Akoto  should  give 
up  selling  their  children  or  offering  them  as  sacrifices. 

The  Akras  were  very  anxious  to  return  home,  when  everything 
had  been  finished;  but  Akoto  desired  them  to  wait  for  the  grand 
yam  custom,  wMiich  he  intended  to  celebrate  in  camp.  Before  that 
took  place,  an  incident  happened  there  which  nearly  brought  on  a 
fight  between  the  Akras  and  Akwamus.  Some  of  the  king's  wives 
had  bought  several  things  from  the  Akras,  who  being  very  anxious 
to  leave  camp,  set  up  demanding  the  wives  very  urgently.  They 
even  went  into  the  women's  quarters,  where  any  man  is  on  pain 
of  death  forbidden  to  enter.  Hence  they  were  beaten  by  the  wo- 
men's guard,  who  in  return  received  several  blows  with  stones;  a 
fight  then  issued.  But  Akoto  was  prudent  enough  to  check  it  very 
soon,  and  brought  order  again  in  the  camp. 

At  last  the  grand  yam  feast  came  on,  when  Akoto  very  impru- 
dently, but  only  to  revenge  himself  for  the  skull  of  Adsheshi  denied  to 
him,  publicly  revealed  the  old  skull  of  the  late  king  Okai  Koi, 
which  one  of  his  ancestors  had  got  possession  of  during  the  war 
with  the  Akras  in  1G60.  This  foolish  act  of  the  king  so  irritated 
the  Akras,  that  they  marched  off  at  once  without  taking  friendly 
leave  of  the  Akwamus  and  their  king.  In  April  1830  the  expedition 
reached  home  with  an  immense  number  of  prisoners;  several  of 
them  were  presented  by  Ankra  to  all  the  chiefs  and  elders  of  every 
town  that  had  sent  a  contingent  to  join  the  expedition. 


Chapter  XXI.  257 

It  was  the  intention  of  Aukra,  as  he  had  planned  already  at 
Banie,  to  march  against  the  Krobos  on  his  way  home,  to  punish 
them  for  pertidionsly  obtaining  arms  and  ammunition,  but  not  joining 
the  expedition.  He  despatched  two  messengers,  Messrs,  Niezer  and 
Otu,  to  warn  them  of  it,  and  also  informed  king  Taki  of  his  in- 
tention to  fight  the  Krobos  before  reaching  home;  but  he  was  ad- 
vised to  desist  from  doing  so,  as  the  Krobos,  being  Danish  subjects, 
would  only  involve  them  into  trouble  with  the  Danish  Government. 
The  amount  for  arms  and  ammunition  obtained  by  them  was  paid 
back  to  Ankra  by  the  Danish  Government. 

Chief  Ado  Horoko  gave  two  of  his  own  daughters  as  hostages 
to  Ankra;    both  became    his  wives,  and  he  got  children  by  them. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

Peace  made  between  Asante   and   the  Protectorate,    April  27,    1831.   — 
The  prisoners  ransomed  back  to  Asante. 

After  the  battle  of  Katamansu,  the  road  to  Asante  was  blockaded, 
and  trade  with  them  was  entirely  stopped.  They  greatly  felt  the 
want  of  salt,  rum,  tobacco,  cloth,  etc.,  yet  they  kept  on  without  a 
good  supply  of  these  necessaries  for  one  year;  after  which  time 
they  became  compelled  to  ask  for  peace,  but  were  unable  to  send 
ambassadors  direct  to  the  coast  through  fear  of  the  Asens  and 
Akems.  Mr.  Amisah,  who  seems  to  have  been  the  Government 
native  official  detained  in  Kumase  when  the  war  broke  out,  was 
consulted  concerning  negotiations  for  peace.  He  seems  to  have 
advised  the  king  to  send  him  down  to  the  coast  to  open  commu- 
nication for  them.  On  his  return  back  to  Kumase,  Princess  Akyiawa, 
one  of  the  captives,  and  two  Asens  accompanied  him. 

Several  of  the  tributary  states  liad,  after  the  defeat  at  Katamansu, 
kept  aloof,  trying  to  throw  off  allegiance  to  the  king,  and  the  roads 
were  blockaded.'')  Osei  Yaw  had  gone  to  Aseremaso  to  ask  for 
divination  from  the  priestess  Siawa  Petegj'awa,  the  widow  of 
Okomfo  Anokye.    The  arrival  of  Akyiawa  and  Mr,  Amisah  to  Kumase 


*)  This  state  of  things  was  chiefly  brought  about  by  the  "Kosankobi", 
a  bad  usage  of  confiscating  or  plundering  parties  who  did  not  join  a 
campaign. 

17 


258  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

was  announced  to  the  king-,  and  he  returned  to  the  capital.  A 
grand  meeting  was  held  for  their  reception  and  everything-  arranged 
for  the  negotiation  of  peace.  The  two  Asens  who  accompanied 
Mr.  Amisah  were  so  imprudent  as  to  sing  against  the  king,  and  he 
was  obliged  to  kill  them. 

On  the  pt  September  1827  the  king's  messengers,  viz.,  linguist 
Okwakwa,  Amankwa  Kuma,  Kwantabisa,  Kankam  Kyekyere,  Afa- 
aboo,  princess  Akyiawa,  and  Mr.  Amisah  arrived  at  Cape  Coast  to 
negotiate  for  peace,  saying  that  the  king  of  Asante  found  it  was  of 
no  use  fighting  against  white  men  and  wished  to  make  peace  and 
be  in  future  subservient  to  them.  Envoys  were  sent  from  Cape 
Coast,  and  negotiations  were  entered  into,  a  treaty  was  agreed 
upon,  and  drawn  up  in  December  1827.  Sir  Neil  Campbell  was 
the  governor  at  that  time,  and  wished  the  allies  and  protected  tribes 
to  consent  to  terms  of  peace;  but  he  found  it  impracticable  to  obtain 
their  consent.  It  appears  that,  when  those  ambassadors  were  sent 
down  to  Akra,  the  kings  and  chiefs  refused  to  accept  their  suing 
for  peace,  on  the  ground  that  the  king  of  Asante  should  send  one 
of  his  principal  captains  to  represent  him,  with  an  indemnity,  bo- 
fore  a  permanent  peace  could  be  made.  The  ambassadors  had  to 
return  to  Cape  Coast,  thence  to  Kumase.  Princess  Akyiawa,  the 
royal  prisoner  of  war,  accompanied  them. 

On  their  return  the  second  time,  Governor  Maclean  was  holding 
the  reins  of  the  government.  The  two  royal  hostages,  Kwantabisa, 
the  king's  son,  about  10  years  old,  and  Owusu  Ansa,  son  of  the 
late  Bonsu,  about  9  years  old,  with  600  ounces  of  gold,  were  de- 
livered by  the  king  to  Mr.  Amisah,  one  of  the  envoys.  He  brought 
down  the  ambassadors,  chief  Okwakwa,  Amankwa  Kuma,  Kwanta- 
bisa, Kankam  Kyekyere,  Afaaboo,  princess  Akyiawa,  and  the  two 
princes  with  the  600  ounces  of  gold  to  Cape  Coast.  We  are  told 
that  on  the  arrival  of  the  ambassadors  His  Excellency  Governor 
Maclean  came  down  to  Akra  with  them,  and  had  first  an  interview 
with  the  chiefs  of  Akra.  Notices  had  been  previously  served  on 
the  kings,  chiefs  and  headmen  who  took  part  in  the  late  battle,  to 
come  to  Akra. 

Queen  Dokuwa,  Agyemang,  Apaw,  captain  Ofo  representing  king 
Akoto,  Ado  Dankwa,  etc.  had  arrived  at  Akra.  It  is  related  that 
an  incident  happened  at  Akra  which  almost  brought  a  fight  between 
the  Akems  and  the  ambassadors  and  their  people,  who  had  come 
together   at  Akra.     But   the   governor   immediately   interfered  and 


Chapter  XXI  259 

stopped  it.  It  is  further  related  tliat  the  governor  had  to  order  out 
some  men-of-war  to  the  roads  of  Akra  to  keep  down  any  further 
disturbances.  The  Akras  were  said  not  to  favour  at  all  the  nego- 
tiation for  peace;  however,  they  were  pacified  by  large  presents 
given  them  privately  by  the  influential  native  merchants.  A  very 
grand  meeting  was  held  before  James  Fort,  and  the  following  treaty 
may  have  been  read  to  them  or  a  new  one  was  made,  of  which 
no  trace  could  be  had.  We  are  quite  certain  of  that,  as  no  names 
of  the  kings  of  Akra,  Akem,  Akuapem,  and  Akwamu,  especially 
of  the  three  last,  who  were  also  subjects  of  the  king  of  Asante,  are 
appended  to  the  treaty. 

Asante  Treaty  of  Peace,  April  27,  1831. 
"We,  the  undersigned,  namely :  The  Governor  of  Cape  Coast 
Castle  and  British  Settlements,  on  the  part  of  His  Majesty,  the  King 
of  England;  the  Princess  Akyiawa,  and  the  Chief  Okwakwa  on  the 
part  of  the  King  of  Asante;  Ageri,  King  of  Cape  Coast;  Adoko, 
King  of  E'ante;  Amoenu,  King  of  Anomabo;  Tibo,  King  of  Dankera; 
Owusu  Oko,  King  of  Tshuforo;  Animiri,  KingofWasa;  Tibo  Ku ma. 
King  of  Asen;  the  Chiefs  of  Adwuniako  and  Asikuma,  and  the 
other  Chiefs  in  alliance  with  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  whose 
names  are  hereimto  appended  —  do  consent  to,  and  hereby  ratify 
the  following  Treaty  of  Peace  and  of  Free  Commerce  between  our- 
selves and  such  other  Chiefs  as  may  hereafter  adhere  to  it. 

1)  The  King  of  Asante  having  deposited  in  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
in  the  presence  of  the  above  mentioned  parties,  the  sum  of  600 
ounces  of  gold,  and  having  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  Governor 
two  young  men  of  the  royal  family  of  Asante,  named  Owusu  Ansa 
and  Owusu  Kwantabisa,  as  securitj^  that  he  will  keep  peace  with 
the  said  parties  in  all  time  coming,  peace  is  hereby  declared  be- 
twixt the  said  king  of  Asante  and  all  and  each  of  the  parties  afore- 
said, to  continue  in  all  time  coming.  The  above  securities  shall 
remain  in  Cape  Coast  for  the  space  of  6  years  from  this  date. 

2)  In  order  to  prevent  all  quarrels  in  future  which  might  lead 
to  the  infraction  of  this  Treaty  of  Peace,  we,  the  parties  aforesaid, 
iiave  agreed  to  the  following  rules  and  regulations  for  the  better 
protection  of  lawful  commerce: 

The  paths  shall  be  perfectly  open  and  free  to  all  persons  engaged 
in  lawful  trafiic;  and  persons  molesting  them  in  any  way  what- 
ever, or  forcing  them  to  purchase  at  any  particular  market,  or  in- 
lluencing  them  by  any    unfair   means  whatever,   shall  be  declared 

17* 


260  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

guilty  of  infringing  this  treaty,  and  be  liable  to  the  severest  pun- 
ishment. 

Panyarring,  denouncing,  and  swearing,  on  or  by  any  person  or 
thing  whatever,  are  hereby  strictly  forbidden,  and  all  persons  in- 
fringing this  rule  shall  be  rigorouslj^  punished;  and  no  master  or 
chief  shall  be  answerable  for  the  crimes  of  his  servants,  unless  done 
by  his  orders  or  consent,  or  when  under  his  control. 

As  the  King  of  Asante  has  renounced  all  right  to  any  tribute  or 
homage  from  the  Kings  of  Dankera,  A  sen,  and  others  formerly 
his  subjects,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  these  parties  are  strictly  pro- 
hibited from  insulting,  by  improper  speaking,  or  in  any  other  way, 
their  former  master;  such  conduct  being  calculated  to  produce 
quarrels  and  wars. 

All  palavers  are  to  be  decided  in  the  manner  mentioned,  in  the 
terms  and  conditions  of  peace  already  agreed  to  by  the  parties  to 
this  treaty. 

Signed  in  the  Great  Hall  of  Cape  Coast  Castle,  this  27*^'  da,y  of 
April,  1831,  by  the  parties  to  this  Treaty,  and  sealed  with  the  great 
seal  of  the  Colony    in  their  i)resence 

(Signed)    George  Maclean,  Governor. 

(Their  marks)  Akyiawa,  Princes  of  Asante.  Okwakwa,  Chief 
of  Asante.  Ageri,  King  of  Cape  Coast.  Adoko,  King  of  Fante. 
Amoenu,  King  of  Anomabo.  Abuku,  Chief  of  Akumfi.  Otu,  Chief 
of  Abora.  Tibo,  King  of  Asen.  Kwadwo  Tibo,  King  of  Dankera. 
Gyebi,  Asen  Chief.  Owusu  Oku,  King  of  Tshuforo.  Apollonia 
Chiefs.     Akinie,  Chief  of  Agya.'" 

A  salute  of  twenty-one  guns  was  fired  at  Cape  Coast  v\'hen  the 
public  proclamation  of  peace  with  Asante  was  made. 

After  the  grand  meeting  of  all  the  kings  and  chiefs  with  Governor 
Maclean  at  Akra,  we  are  told  they  assembled  in  the  same  manner 
at  Christiansborg  on  the  following  day.  Another  grand  meeting  it 
was;  especially  as  there  were  then  a  good  number  of  the  Danish 
Government  officials  in  the  castle,  who  had  been  commissioned  by 
the  king  of  Denmark  on  purpose  to  organize  a  large  regular  Native 
force.  Bearing  in  mind  that  war  with  the  Asantes  could  not  be 
done  away  with  by  a  single  engagement  as  that  took  place  at  Kata- 
mansu.  The  native  soldiers  had  since  their  arrival  been  redoubled 
in  number,  and  well  drilled,  the  infantry  as  well  as  the  artillery, 
and  with  the  destructive  weapons  known  at  that  time. 

Sir  N.  Campbell    had    the    same   commission    concerning  a  good 


WILLI  AH  H.  BO  YL 

Chapter  XXI.  261 

preparation  against  the  Asantes;  but  as  they  had  been  beaten  at 
Katamansu  before  his  arrival,  the  immense  preparations  could  not 
be  pot  into  use.  —  There  were  then  in  Christiansboro^  Castle,  Go- 
vernor Hein,  Magnusen  as  the  Secretary  and  Treasurer;  Brock, 
book-keeper,  captain  Biien,  adjutant  Ahrenstorff,  Messrs.  Meisner 
and  8chenon,  artillery  inspectors,  and  several  others.  The  soldiers 
in  their  new  uniforms  paraded  before  the  Castle  of  Christiansborg, 
to  give  reception  to  the  Asante  ambassadors  and  the  kings  and 
chiefs  of  the  Protectorate.  It  was  a  very  imposing  sight  to  the 
Asantes.  Another  treaty  was  said  to  have  been  drawn  and  signed 
by  princess  Akyiawa  of  Asante,  chief  Okwakwa,  Kwantabisa,  Afa- 
boo  and  Mr.  Amisah;  then  a  salute  of  five  guns  (some  say  21)  was 
fired  to  ratify  the  treat}'  of  peace,  and  the  ambassadors  were  dis- 
missed with  large  and  rich  presents. 

It  is  said  that  the  Akras  verbally  added  this  to  the  treaty,  that, 
if  any  Asante  trader  came  to  the  coast  with  a  wife,  and  any  illegal 
intercourse  happened  between  the  wife  and  an  Akra  man,  nine 
heads  and  thirty  strings  of  cowries,  equal  to  eight  shillings  now, 
was  the  damage  to  be  paid  by  the  offender,  whilst  on  the  contrary 
an  Asante  man  who  might  be  found  guilty  of  such  a  crime  must 
be  sold  into  slavery. 

The  next  important  thing  to  be  done  was,  how  to  bring  the  re- 
deemed prisoners  safe  back  to  Kumase.  Several  of  the  prisoners 
were  redeemed  by  the  inlluential  merchants  on  the  coast,  and  to 
encourage  the  trade  and  friendship  of  the  Asantes,  they  were  sent 
back  to  the  king  free  of  charges.  Among  them  were  the  following 
persons  of  the  roj^al  family:  Aka  Pusua,  the  king's  wife;  Akyiawa  I, 
the  princess  who  acted  as  ambassador  in  negotiating  for  peace; 
Kokowa,  Boaten's  wife;  Akyiawa  11;  Odorowa,  Gyesi,  with  many 
others.  To  ensure  their  safety  in  passing  through  the  Fante  country, 
Mr.  Richter  played  the  following  game.  Kwadwo  Tibo  being  the 
most  influential  king  in  the  Fante  country,  Mr.  Richter  invited  his 
mother,  Aya  Daukwa,  to  Christiansborg,  to  become  a  concubine  of 
his.  She  ran  down  with  all  speed,  and  was  allowed  a  house  to  live 
in  and  people  to  attend  her.  She  imagined  herself  a  friend  of  the 
old  gentleman,  while  in  reality  she  was  kept  there  as  security  for 
the  safety  of  the  redeemed  prisoners. 

Meanwhile  the  ambassadors  arrived  at  Cape  Coast  with  the  cap- 
tives, who  were  escorted  by  24  armed  men  of  Mr.  Richter,  the 
renowned  Pobi  Asawa  of  Akra  at  their  head.     Governor  Maclean, 


262  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

after  having  gone  through  with  the  negotiation  for  peace  with  the 
Danish  Government  and  the  kings  and  chiefs  of  Akra,  Akuapeai,  etc., 
summoned  all  the  Fante  kings  and  chiefs  to  Cape  Coast  Castle, 
on  the  arrival  of  the  ambassadors  with  the  ransomed  captives. 
There  were  present  Kwadwo  Tibo,  Tibo  Kuma,  Wasa  Animiri, 
Kwame  Basagyi,  Boampong,  and  several  others.  But  unfortunatelj^ 
an  incident  happened  in  Cape  Coast,  similar  to  the  one  which  took 
place  at  Akra,  only  with  some  slight  difference,  here  a  quarrel 
only  broke  out  between  the  Akems  and  the  ambassadors,  whilst 
at  Cape  Coast,  stone  and  stick-light  occurred  between  some  Wasa 
chiefs.  The  Governor  immediately  checked  the  disturbance,  and 
ordered  that  100  lashes  should  be  given  to  each  of  the  chiefs  who 
allowed  their  people  to  fight.  Boampong,  feeling  it  a  very  disgrace- 
ful thing  for  a  chief  to  undergo,  stole  away  behind  a  house  at 
Cape  Coast  town,  and  cut  his  own  throat. 

The  Governor  made  the  Fante  kings  and  chiefs  to  understand 
that  the  Akras  had  given  their  full  consent  to  the  negotiation  of 
peace,  and  then  they  signed  the  treaty  of  the  27*'^  April  1831  in 
the  great  Hall  of  Cape  Coast  Castle.  It  appears  that  the  meeting- 
held  by  Governor  Maclean  with  the  kings  and  chiefs  of  Akra, 
Akuapem,  Akem  and  Akwamu  took  place  in  the  middle  of  June 
1831;  that  at  Cape  Coast  was  previous. 

After  due  preparations  and  with  large  presents  from  the  Govern- 
ment and  influential  merchants  of  Fante,  the  ambassadors  started 
from  Cape  Coast  under  escort  of  24  soldiers  from  the  castle,  several 
Fante  messengers  and  Pobi  Asawa  with  his  two  dozen  armed  men 
of  Mr.  Richter,  but  the  Governor  did  not  sanction  their  carrying 
arms  along  v^ith  the  soldiers,  therefore  they  gave  them  loads,  and 
kept  their  arms  in  the  castle  until  they  should  have  returned  from 
Praso  and  then  to  get  possession  of  the  same.  An  obstacle  which 
came  on  their  waj--  up  to  Praso  at  that  time  was,  that  an  Asen 
man,  Dankwa  Tutu,  had  murdered  one  named  Toku  and  conse- 
quently escaped  into  the  bush  of  Asen  which  had  made  the  road 
dangerous  and  unpassable.  At  Odraease  the  ambassadors  and  escort 
were  detained  for  two  weeks,  for  fear  of  Dankwa  Tutu.  The  chiefs 
of  Abora  thereupon  assembled  at  Nyankumase  and  swore  to  abide 
by  the  peace  which  had  been  made  by  the  Government.  King 
Otutu  and  his  chiefs  therefore  appointed  armed  men,  who  escorted 
the  whole  body  of  men  from  the  coast  as  far  as  to  Manyamanso, 
the  town  of  Gyebri,    and   thence    they   returned   to  their  quarters. 


Chapter  XXII.  263 

But  the  soldiers  and  Mr.  Richter's  men  accompanied  them  to  Praso, 
and  returned  to  Cape  Coast;  the  latter  got  their  arms  back  from 
the  governor  and  came  home.  Pobi  Asawa  vvitli  the  messengers 
from  Cape  Coast  alone  had  the  charge  of  the  ambassadors  and  re- 
deemed prisoners  to  Kumase,  and  handed  them  to  the  king.  Princess 
Akjiawa,  on  reaching  Kumase,  was  said  to  have  bought  a  slave 
whom  she  named:  '^Nkrahfo  ye  mmoa,  the  Akras  are  fools",  for 
sparing  such  a  one  as  herself  alive.  Aya  Dankwa  was  after  all 
sent  back  with  large  presents  to  her  country. 

The  peace  was  kept  for  six  years  according  to  the  treaty  (others 
say,  ten  years),  after  which  the  600  ounces  of  gold  lodged  in  the 
castle  of  Cape  Coast  as  security  was  sent  back  to  king  Kwaku  Dua 
of  Asante.  The  messengers  who  came  for  it  were  quite  astonished 
not  only  that  the  amount  was  given  back,  but  that  it  was  in  the 
same  condition  as  given  to  the  Government.  —  The  two  princes, 
Kwantabisa  and  Owusu  Ansa,  were  sent  to  England,  and  received 
a  good  education  under  the  idea,  that  they  would  one  day  become 
kings  of  Asante,  but  as  sons  and  not  nephews  they  got  no  claim 
on  the  stool  of  Asante. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Agriculture  with  its  implements  in  Adam's  time. —  Improvements  in  it 
by  the  Ancients. —  How  the  former  inhabitants  on  the  Gold  Coast 
acquired  implements,  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil.  Principal  plants 
known  before  the  ari'ival  of  Europeans. —  New  plants  introduced  and 
improvements  made  by  Europeans. —  Principal  occupations  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  how  not  improved. —  Different  famines  known  in  the 
country,  provision  and  labour  being  dear. —  Folly  of  the  educated 
community  in  not  following  the  example  of  tlie  civilized  ufitions. — 
What  the  Government  should  do  to  get  the  colony  prosperous. 

We  read  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  that  our  first  parent  Adam,  when 
created,  was  ordered  by  God  to  subsist  on  the  fruits  of  the  trees 
of  the  garden  of  Eden,  with  the  injunction:  "to  dress  it  and  to  keep 
if,  i.e.  to  work.  After  his  fall,  he  was  expelled  from  that  terrestrial 
Paradise,  to  till  the  ground  from  whence  he  was  taken. 

Scripture  says  nothing  about  the  nature  or  the  material  of  the 
first  implements  which  Adam  used  for  the  purpose  of  digging  the 
ground.  We  suppose  that  they  were  either  made  of  some  hard 
stone  or  hard  wood.    For  until  the  invention  of  brass  and  iron  by 


264  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

Tubal-Cain,  the  first  manufacturer  of  all  sorts  of  utensils  of  brass 
and  iron  —  probably  the  same  who  was  called  Vulcan,  the  God  of 
smiths  by  the  Romans  —  the  Antediluvians  must  have  used  the 
rude  instruments  invented  by  Adam. 

The  prodigious  length  of  life  the  Antediluvians  enjoyed,  must 
have  been  very  favourable  to  the  advancement  of  arts  and  science, 
especially  agriculture,  to  which  it  behoved  them  to  apply  in  a  par- 
ticular manner  in  order  to  procure  their  subsistence.  It  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  even  in  their  age,  arts  and  sciences  had  made  greater 
progress  in  many  respects  than  now  with  us  on  the  Gold  Coast. 
No  doubt,  by  the  terrible  catastrophe  of  the  flood,  many  a  science 
may  have  been  lost,  yet  what  was  known  to  Noah  and  his  children 
was  transmitted  to  their  posterity.  For  mankind  continued  in  one 
body  without  being  dispersed  into  different  nations.  Agriculture, 
arts  and  sciences  must  have  necessarily  advanced  till  the  building 
of  the  tower  of  Babel.  It  is  from  this  dispersion  of  mankind  con- 
sequent upon  the  confusion  of  tongues  that  we  must  date  the  origin 
of  savage  nations.  We  find  in  history  that  the  civilized  ones  founded 
kingdoms  in  which  arts,  sciences  and  agriculture  flourished,  whilst 
the  rest  led  a  savage  wandering  life. 

To  treat  therefore  of  the  cultivation  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  on 
the  Gold  Coast,  the  question  arises,  what  was  the  nature  of  their 
implements,  and  of  what  material  were  they  made  prior  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Europeans?  As  necessity  is  the  mother  of 
invention  (the  absence  of  which  is  the  sole  cause  of  the  unimproved 
state  of  agriculture,  arts  etc.),  those  aboriginal  emigrants  may  have 
discovered  the  art  of  founding  iron  from  the  ores,  and  working  it 
into  rude  implements  of  cultivation,  handicraft,  and  warfare,  as  we 
still  find  with  the  aboriginal  tribes  in  the  interior.  The  following 
facts  may  throw  some  light  on  the  subject.  At  Adanse  Akrokyere, 
where  some  smiths  seem  to  have  resided,  we  hear  that  patterns  of 
the  implements  then  in  use  were  carved  in^a  rock.  We  know 
that  inventors  of  some  arts  with  all  heathens  of  antiquity  were 
often  converted  to  a  God  or  a  fetish,  hence  the  fetishes.  Bona  with 
the  Tshis  and  Ayekoaye  (Ligble)  with  the  Akras.  On  account  of 
such  smith-fetishes,  a  professor  of  that  trade  gives  to  his  male 
child  the  name  of  ''Niimo",  a  Mandingo  word,  signifying  smith. 

From  the  Mandingos,  who  are  naturally  traders  and  travellers, 
smithery  was  transmitted  to  our  people.  The  bellows  used  by  the 
aboriginal  people  had    the  form    of  two  clay  smoking-pipes  placed 


Chapter  XXII.  265 

side  by  side.  A  proof  of  the  utility  of  some  of  their  smithery  is 
found  by  the  following  proverbial  saying;:  ''Sane  le  etso  Tesi-kpodsi", 
which  means,  the  case  (palaver)  has  become  the  fish-hooks  from 
Teshi.  The  smiths  of  the  place  in  manufacturing  fish-hooks  used 
the  common  trade  iron  instead  of  the  best  native  iron  then  in  use, 
as  they  seem  to  have  neglected  to  prepare  the  ores,  when  Euro- 
pean iron  bars  were  imported  cheap.  Those  hooks  often  proved 
useless  in  fishery,  hence  the  expression  for  any  trial  of  a  bad  case. 

As  the  soil  all  over  the  Gold  Coast,  even  to  the  very  sea-shore, 
is  so  wonderfully  fertile,  the  productions  obtained  by  means  of  these 
rude  implements,  twice  in  the  year  antl  with  little  exertion,  riciily 
compensated  the  farmer.  The  virgin  soil  moreover  produced  an 
abundance  of  trees  with  edible  fruit,  such  as  tlie  fan-palm  and  date- 
palm,  and  several  kinds  of  berries  called  by  the  natives :  noko, 
kofu,  amugui,  anyenyeli,  awongme  (ofe),  amuma,  aflangme,  ang- 
mada,  gowa  etc.,  upon  which  they  subsisted  during  the  greater  part 
of  the  year.  The  fruit  of  the  fan-palm  furnished  the  principal  food 
in  those  days,  and  was  thus  prepared.  When  gathered  home,  the,y 
are  first  roasted  on  fire,  and  the  peels  are  stripped  off,  the  edible 
part  is  mixed  with  a  bit  of  native  flour  prepared  of  roasted  corn 
and  forms  a  favourite  article  of  food.  Some  of  the  berries,  especially 
angmada,  undergo  a  process  of  brewing,  and  a  beverage  which 
served  as  liquor  was  obtained.  The  process  of  brewing  corn  and 
water  into  a  kind  of  beer  is  called  ^'iimada"  i.e.  corn-beverage. 

The  wine  extracted  from  the  fan-palm  they  called  "adoka",  that 
from  the  date-palm  "akudono",  of  the  oil-palm  "teda  (teida)",  in  Tshi 
"ns.ifufu".  The  origin  of  palm-wine  is  traditionally  thus  reported 
by  the  Western  Echo  (a  local  weekly  paper  edited  at  Cape  Coast 
by  Prince  Brew  of  Dunkwa). 

''When  the  Fantes  were  on  their  way  from  Takiman  to  the  coast, 
their  king  had  a  celebrated  hunter  called  Ansa,  who  used  to.  go  a 
hunting  for  him.  As  the  Fantes  had  to  encounter  the  former  in- 
habitants of  the  land  who  opposed  their  settling  amongst  them,  the 
king  had  Ansa  to  head  the  scouts  whom  he  had  to  send  from  time 
to  time.  Ansa  had  a' dog  which  accompanied  him  in  hunting  and 
scouting  excursions. 

"It  happened  that  in  one  of  his  hunting  excursions,  he  found  a 
palm-tree  which  had  been  thrown  down  by  an  elephant,  and  a 
hole  made  in  the  trunk  of  the  tree  by  his  foot.  It  seems  that  the 
sagacious  animal  had  long  known  the  secret  of  tapping  the  palm-tree, 


266  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asaute. 

and  had  long  enjoyed  the  delicious  though  intoxicating  sap 
that  it  yielded.  The  hunter,  perceiving  some  sap  oozing  freely 
from  the  orifice  made  by  the  elephant,  was  half  inclined  to  taste^ 
but  fearing  it  might  be  poisonous  gave  some  to  his  dog,  who  seemed 
to  relish  it  greatly.  Finding  that  his  dog  took  a  liking  to  this  new 
liquor,  he  in  the  morning  drank  so  freely  of  the  sap  of  the  palm- 
tree,  that  he  got  fairly  intoxicated.  He  lay  in  a  state  of  stupor 
for  the  whole  day,  in  so  much  that  the  king  and  people  wondered 
what  had  become  of  him,  and  gave  him  up  for  lost. 

"When  he  was  sufficiently  recovered,  he  soon  learned  how  to  tap 
the  tree  and  succeeded  in  getting  one  pot  of  palm-wine  from  the 
tree,  which  he  took  to  the  king.  Ansa,  before  presenting  the  wine 
to  the  king,  tasted  of  the  wine  hrst,  as  customary,  to  show  that 
it  was  not  poisonous. 

''The  king,  having  tasted  of  the  wine,  enjoyed  it  so  much  that  he 
would  not  allow  any  one  to  partake  of  it  besides  himself;  the  con- 
sequence was,  he  got  so  drunk,  that  he  did  not  recover  from  its 
effects  till  the  next  morning.  The  people,  finding  their  king"  in 
such  a  helpless  condition,  thought  he  was  poisoned.  They  imme- 
diately searched  for  the  hunter,  whom  they  (without  asking  him 
any  questions)  despatched,  supposing  that,  as  he  was  so  celebrated 
and  held  such  a  high  position  among  the  people,  that  he  wanted 
to  poison  the  king  and  reign  in  his  stead.  As  soon  as  the  king 
was  sufficiently  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  wine,  the  first 
thing  he  did  was  to  call  out  "Ansa!"  Having  heard  that  Ansa  was 
killed  by  some  of  his  men  in  their  mistaken  zeal,  he  ordered  those 
men  to  be  decapitated.  Ever  since,  the  sap  of  the  palm-tree  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Ansa  which  is  corrupted  to  Nsa.'" 

Another  account  of  the  origin  of  palm-wine  says  that  one  chief  Akoro 
Firampong  of  Abadwirera,  a  town  in  Adanse,  had  a  hunter,  Werempim 
Ampgng,  whose  dog  accompanied  him  to  his  farm,  where  he  found  a 
number  of  palm-trees  thrown  down  by  elephants,  some  of  them  split 
in  two,  and  the  sap  oozing  freely  from  the  surface  of  the  trees  thus  di- 
vided. His  dog,  on  seeing  the  sap,  licked  some  of  it,  became  intoxicated 
and  wild,  and  lay  in  a  state  of  stupor  for  the  whole  day.  The  next 
day,  Werempim  Ampong  went  to  the  spot,  mtlde  a  hole  in  one  of  the 
trees,  and  having  placed  some  broad  leaf  in  the  hole  to  receive  the  wine, 
he  di-ank  the  same.  The  consequence  was  that  he  too  got  drunk,  and 
then  reported  it  to  the  chief  Akoro  Firampong.  On  the  third  day  the 
chief  accompanied  the  hunter,  drank,  freely  of  the  new  liquor,  and  became 
drunk.  Un  his  recovery,  he  invited  his  friend  Auti  Kyei  of  Akorokyere 
to   the  spot,    and  both  enjoyed  the  wine  so  freely,    that  Anti  Kyei  died 


Chapter  XXII.  267 

of  it.    A  great  alarm   was  made  that  the  friends  of  the  deceased  resorted 
to  arms  to  take  revenge,  upon   which  Akoro  P^irarapong,    to  put  a  stop 
to  much  blood-shed,    offered    to  kill  himself.     But    before  he  committed 
the  suicide,  he  ordered  the  drummer  of  his  kettledrum  to  beat  the  follow- 
iuir.   which  has  become  the  gdiei'il  beatini*-  of  kettledrums: 
Werempim  Ampong,    wudi  usa  mu  akotene, 
Akoro  Firampgng,   dammirifiia,   due,  due! 
Anti  Kyei,  Firampgng,   dammiriftia  gyegyegye. 

Maii}^  years  afterwards,  when  rum  was  introduced  in  the  country 
by  the  captain  of  some  trading  vessel,  Mmoro,  a  brother  of  Kwa- 
gya,  the  principal  fisherman  of  Mowure,  was  employed  as  a  servant 
to  the  captain.  It  was  through  his  means  the  captain  effected  the 
sale  of  the  new  liquor,  and  in  contradistinction  to  palm-wine  it  was 
called  Mmoro-nsa  or  "mmorosil",  that  is,  Mmoro's  liquor.*) 

The  principal  vegetables  and  plants  cultivated  by  the  former  in- 
habitants, and  upon  which  they  subsisted,  were:  yams,  batatas, 
cassada,  maize,  ngma  (a  kind  of  wheat  verj  small  and  somewhat 
black),  rice,  and  different  kinds  of  beans.  There  seem  to  have 
been  other  kinds  of  roots  used  by  them  besides  these,  which  are 
no  more  known  to  us,  being  out  of  use  on  account  of  not  being 
brought  to  perfection  by  cultivation.  Even  the  use  of  cassada  was 
almost  given  up  on  account  of  its  being  narcotic.  As  traditionally 
reported,  their  fetish  Sakumo  promised  to  pass  its  urine  on  the  root, 
so  as  to  remove  that  power  from  it,  which  he  did,  and  so  it  became 
good.  We  could  hardly  have  convinced  them  at  that  time  that  it 
was  not  their  fetish,  but  the  constant  and  careful  cultivation  that 
brought  the  root  to  its  present  state.  The  narcotic  substance  in  the 
cassada  in  its  primitive  stage  is  still  with  that  root  in  the  Bights, 
Gaboon,  and  such  places. —  Amanfi  and  Asabu  were  the  chief  culti- 
vators of  the  soil.  They  were  giants  who  paid  more  attention  to 
it.  The  establishment  of  Europeans  on  the  coast  gave  impetus  to 
cultivation,  and  foreign  plants,  grains  and  fruit-trees  were  introduced 
into  the  country.    A  writer  in  the  16"»  century  says,  "Till  now,  the 


*)  The  common  explanation  is,  that  the  first  part  of  the  word  "mrusa 
or  mmorosa"  is  the  same  we  find  in  "borofere,  aborgbe,  aborgbeii,  borg- 
toa"  and  other  things  brought  by  the  "borgfo",  or  Europeans,  from 
"Aburokyiri  (in  Ga  Ablotsiri)"  =  Europe.  As  in  "aborgnoma,  the  Eu- 
ropean bird  =  the  domestic  pigeon",  the  prefix  "a"  of  ^'anoma,  a  bird" 
is  transferred  to  the  head  of  the  compound,  so  the  nasal  prefix  of  "n-sa" 
was  adapted  to  "b"  in  "m-borg-sa  =  ramorgsa",  which,  therefore,  means 
"the  European  liquor".      Chr. 


268  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and   A  saute. 

Portuo-uese  are  tlie  only  nation  that  attempted  the  improvement  of 
the  Negroes"'.  They  did  not  contine  themselves  to  their  garrisons 
or  trading  factories,  but  formed  considerable  colonies  on  the  coast. 
The}^  attempted  to  instruct  the  natives  in  the  better  cultivation  of 
their  soil  etc.  They  introduced  different  kinds  of  millet  and  corn, 
plantain  and  banana,  orange  and  apple,  etc.  Although  there  is  a 
tradition  tliat  plantain  and  banana  were  indigenous  to  the  country, 
and  that  Dompim  in  Akem  was  the  place  where  plantain  and  banana 
were  found  out.  Defining  the  word  ''abrode",  which  is  the  Tshi 
name  for  plantain,  we  say  "Abro  ode''  i.e.  Abro's  yam,  as  we  find 
with  the  introduction  of  rum.  It  appears  there  were  indigenous 
plantain  and  banana  in  the  country  before  the  arrival  of  Europeans, 
who  may  have  also  brought  some  other  kinds  of  the  same  plant, 
and  one  Abro  was  the  one  who  obtained  some  suckers  from  the 
European  who  fiist  brought  it.*) 

The  following  seems,  however,  the  true  tradition  of  how  the 
plantain  is  said  to  have  been  discovered. 

A  hunter  at  Dompim  in  Akem,  feeling  the  cravings  of  hunger 
in  one  of  his  hunting  excursions,  happened  to  discover  ripe  fruits 
on  the  plantain  trees,  then  called  '•ahabaiitetredwa'",  i.e.  broad- 
leaved  tree.  Hungry  as  he  was,  he  tasted  one  of  the  ripe  fruits, 
and  then  ate  one  or  two  of  them.  He  brought  home  a  bunch  of 
the  ripe  ones  and  another  bunch  of  the  green  ones,  showed 
them  to  his  fellow-hunters  and  his  wife,  and  told  them  how  deli- 
€ious  its  taste  was.  The  green  ones  were  roasted  on  fire  and  very 
good  to  eat.  He  went  out  for  more  another  time,  which  was  no 
more  roasted,  but  boiled  in  water  and  prepared  into  mpesi  (mashed 
food),  as  they  do  with  yam,  hence  the  name  ''oboode*',  which  means, 
yam  substitute,  or  more  plain,  ''obeboa-ode'',  i.e.  coming  to  assist 
yam,  now  corrupted  into  ^'oborode"'. 

After  the  Portuguese  the  Danish  colonists,  such  as  Meyer, 
Schonning,  Truelsen,  Gronberg,  Balck,  etc.  trod  in  their  footsteps. 
Their  chief  object  was  not  only  to  instruct  the  natives  in  the  better 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  but  to  improve  cultivation  so  far  as  to  supply 
European  markets  with  produce  from  Africa  like  that  obtained  from 
the  West  Indies.  After  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  the  Danish 
Government  encouraged  the  cultivation  of  the  vegetable  productions 

*)  The  word  for  "plantain"  is  "o-brode"  (only  for  many  plantain- 
trees  a  plural  form  "abrgde"  is  used)  and  the  meaning  is  "the  Euro- 
peans' yam'\ 


Chapter  XXll. 


569 


Mr.  Chr.  Schonning, 

the  iiionecr  of  civilization   and  (Governor 
from  1807—1817. 


o-aiued  in  tlie  West  Indies.  Planta- 
tions of  coffee,  cotton,  etc.  were  made 
on  the  Kuku  and  Leg-ong-  hills.  Further 
on  thej  bought  several  lands  from 
the  Akuapenis  and  founded  their  own 
A'illages:  Sesemi,  Bebiase,  Kponkpo, 
Abokobi,  Akroi)ong-,  Togbloku,  etc. 
Besides  coffee  the_y  introduced  sev- 
ei'al  vegetables  unknown  to  the  na- 
tives. 

After  the  Danes,  the  Basel  Mission 
stepped  in  to  improve  the  natives 
in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  iirst  by 
European  lay  missionaries  sent  out 
for  that  purpose.  For  the  same  object, 
partly  to  show  the  natives  that  there 
are  christian  negroes  who  cultivate 
lands,  24  members  of  the  Moravian 
Congregation  in  Jamaica  were  brought  to  Akropong  in  1843  at  the 
e.Kpeuse  of  the  Committee  in  Basel.  Those  emigrants  also  brought 
the  coco  (mankani)  and  the  mango,  mountain-pear,  bread-nut,  etc. 
into  the  country.  The  coco  has  proved  since  a  valuable  boon  to 
the  country  against  famine.  The  Rev.  T.  B.  Freemann  oftlie  VVes- 
leyan  mission  also  did  liis  best  to  improve  the  country  by  cultivation, 
having  made  beautiful  gardens. 

Fishery  and  hunting-  were  their  next  occupations.  Poisoned  arrows 
were  used  by  them  for  hunting  purposes,  and  by  that  even  elephants, 
buffaloes  and  any  other  animals,  very  plentiful  in  those  days,  were 
killed.  The  ivory  as  well  as  the  skulls  of  the  elepluiuts  were  de- 
posited in  an  enclosure  of  sticks  at  Dutch  town,  Labade,  and  Poni, 
which  enclosure  bears  the  name  "Shuowumona"  to  this  day. 
''Shuowu*'  means  ivory,  and  "mo"  a  fence  oi-  fort.  (Tiie  place  where 
(Criminals  were  executed  and  their  heads  or  skulls  deposited  was 
called  Oweremona  i.e.  revenging  fence,  now  corrupted  AweremOna.) 
The  art  of  tishing-  in  the  sea,  making  nets  and  fishing  canoes  etc.,. 
seems  to  have  been  found  out  by  the  Fantes. 

The  iirst  European  settlers  on  the  coast  uuiy  liave  improved  the 
nets,  although  it  is  not  certain;  but  no  new  improvements  have 
been  made  since  then.  If  our  people  were  not  satisfied  to  live 
only    from    liand    to  mouth,    great   improvement    might   have  been 


270  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and   Asante. 

made  already  in  fishery,  large  boats  built  and  better  nets  made, 
which  would  certainly  pay  any  trouble  or  expense  therefrom.  Our 
whole  motto  seems  to  be  ^'As  our  great-grand-fathers  did,  so  we 
must  do'". 

The  giant  Kwagj^a  of  Mowure,  who  accompanied  Amanti  from 
the  sea,  was  the  founder  of  the  town  Mowure,  and  being  the  first 
fisherman,  he  and  his  followers  carried  on  that  branch  of  industry. 
From  him  all  the  rest  of  the  people  on  the  Gold  Coast  acquired 
the  knowledge  of  fishing  in  the  sea.  Ushangma,  the  founder  of 
the  town  Ningo,  was  found  by  Lasei  of  Nodo  to  have  contrived  a 
means  for  fishing  b}^  placing  a  piece  of  a  creeping  plant  across  a 
rill  of  the  lagoon  Dshange.  Placing  himself  so  as  not  to  be  seen 
by  the  fish,  when  passing  either  from  the  rill  to  the  lagoon  and 
vice  versa,  the  moment  he  saw  the  fish  on  that  creeping  plant  he 
had  laid  into  the  water,  he  suddenly  flung  up  the  end  of  the  plant 
he  had  in  his  hand,  having  previously  fastened  the  other  end  to 
something.  In  this  wa}^  he  succeeded  to  throw  off  one  or  two 
fishes  at  a  time.  Thus  we  see  that  there  were  several  means  of 
catching  fish  from  the  sea  and  rivers  till  fishing  nets  of  anv  kind 
were  invented.  It  is  very  remarkable  that  the  then  principal  occu- 
pations of  our  people,  viz.,  agriculture,  fishery  and  hunting,  supply 
proofs  that  they  had  a  certain  knowledge  of  the  creation  transmitted 
to  them  b}^  tradition.  Fishermen  keep  Tuesda}^  as  their  lioliday, 
and  as  our  holidaj^s  always  fall  on  the  day  of  the  week  on  which 
one  was  born,  so  our  fishermen  had  known  by  tradition  that  the 
sea  came  into  existence  on  the  third  day  of  creation,  which  was 
Tuesday.  The  farmers  also  keep  the  same  day  as  their  holiday ; 
jet  in  consideration  of  Adam  coming  into  existence  on  the  sixth 
day  of  creation,  tliey  called  the  earth  ^'Asase  Afia"  i.e.  coming  into 
existence  on  Friday  —  Adam  is  named  from  the  earth  —  hence 
Frida}'  is  another  holiday  for  farmers. 

The  hunters'  dance  is  called  "Adam";  its  song  begins:  "Adam 
kum  mmoa  a,  mmoa  wu,  mmoa  damfo",  which  means,  when  Adam 
kills  animals,  they  die,  being  the  friend  of  the  animals.  Is  not  this 
remarkable!  How  came  our  people  to  know  this  that  Adam  has 
the  power  to  kill  animals,  before  they  could  die,  and  is  their  friend? 

As  God  rested  on  the  seventh  day  after  the  creatiun,  which  was  on 
Saturday,  the  sabbath  of  the  Old  Testament,  God  was  considered  to 
have  come  into  existence  on  Saturday,  hence  "Nyankopon  Kwame"  = 
Ood  of  the  Saturday, 


Chapter  XXII.  271 

The  next  occupations  of  the  former  inhabitants  were  salt-boiling 
and  gold-mining.  The  manner  of  obtaining  salt  seems  to  have 
been  at  first  to  boil  the  sea-water  or  the  saltish  water  from  the 
lagoons  in  earthen  pots.  They  set  10  or  12  pots  in  two  rows,  which 
were  cemented  together  with  clay  somewhat  similar  to  a  furnace. 
It  was  then  supplied  with  firewood,  and  by  that  process  of  boiling 
salt  was  obtained.  Copper  boilers  were  introduced  by  Europeans, 
by  which  salt  was  obtained  also  by  boiling  the  sea-water.  All 
such  process  was  tedious.  The  Portuguese  seem  to  have  invented 
salt-pits  and  pans,  into  which  the  salt-water  of  the  lagoons  was 
led  through  small  drains  to  be  evaporated  by  the  scorching  heat 
of  the  sun,  leaving  behind  the  salt  to  be  gathered.  Another  process 
was  by  pans,  which  the  natives  called  '^takui''.  The  ground  all 
about  the  lagoons  being  stored  with  saltish  and  nitrous  elements, 
a  cut  of  about  one  foot  deep,  12  feet  long  and  6  broad  is  as  nicely 
prepared  as  to  become  water-proof.  Water  from  the  lagoons  is 
carried  into  the  pans,  and  within  a  few  days  salt  is  obtained  by 
means  of  the  scorching  heat  of  the  sun. 

Thus  the  Portuguese  commenced  at  Akra  on  the  lagoon  Kole, 
and  when  the  Akras  were  conquered  by  the  Akvvamus,  the  whole 
blame  was  laid  on  the  Portuguese  to  say,  Kole  was  offended  that 
such  pits  and  pans  had  been  dug  on  her. 

From  that  time  the  Akras  forbade  the  digging  of  such  pits  and 
pans  on  Kole.  They  as  well  as  those  in  Christiansborg  entirely 
gave  up  that  profitable  trade  and  applied  themselves  to  the  trade 
in  European  goods. 

All  the  other  towns  along  the  coast,  where  trade  M^as  not  carried 
on  with  Europeans,  applied  themselves  chiefly  to  salt-making.  The 
trade  known  before  the  arrival  of  Europeans  was  that  in  salt,  as 
tiie  interior  people  could  never  live  without  that  necessary  article. 
Those  who  turned  great  attention  to  salt-making,  acquired  riches, 
and,  if  there  were  to  be  continual  peace  in  the  country,  the  people 
of  the  coast  towns  would  be  the  wealthiest  on  the  Gold  Coast. 

Gold  was  obtained  from  mines  in  Akem,  Dankera,  Tshuforo, 
Asen,  Wasa,  Asante  and  other  inland  countries.  The  gold  of  Akem 
was,  and  is  to  the  present  day,  the  purest  and  finest.  People  on 
the  coast,  especially  in  Fante,  Elmina  and  Axim  used  to  wash  out 
gold  on  the  sea-shore  after  the  fall  of  heavy  rains. 

Earthenware  of  various  kinds  was  manufactured,  such  as  water- 
pots,  cooking-  and  eating-vessels,  smoking-pipes,  etc. 


272  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  aad   Asante. 

The  walls  of  their  houses  were  either  built  with  sticks  and  swish 
or  solid  clay,  of  a  pyramidal  form  of  5  or  6  feet  high,  and  thatched 
with  sticks  and  grass.  The  houses  looked  like  the  present  sheds 
of  fetishes  called  '^gbatshu"  by  the  Akras,  but  miitu  by  the  Adang- 
mes.  With  no  windows,  but  only  a  single  opening,  which  could 
be  closed  by  a  kind  of  mats  made  of  fan-palm  leaves  and  called 
''kwo".  No  furniture  whatever  inside,  but  baskets  made  of  the  fan- 
palm,  with  lids  in  which  clothing,  precious  beads,  etc.  were  kept. 
The  clothing  of  the  poorer  classes  was  "obofu",  the  bark  of  a  certain 
tree  beaten  soft;  but  the  better  classes  used  country  cloths.  There 
were  weavers  in  those  ancient  days;  but  when  Europeans  arrived 
and  cotton  or  linen  goods  were  introduced,  the  weavers  gave  up 
their  trade.  (In  Ningowa  and  souie  other  towns  the  native  weavers 
did  so  about  50  years  ago.) 

Iron  founding  was  likewise  given  up;  but  the  manufacture  of 
earthenware  and  articles  in  gold  was  kept  up  and  improved.  It  is 
a  pity  that  our  people  gave  up  weaving  and  iron-founding;  they 
might  have  continued  to  supply  their  own  wants  and  improved  in 
these  branches  of  manufacture. 

The  principal  occupations  of  the  former  inhabitants  of  the  Gold 
Coast  may  be  enumerated  as  follows:  Agriculture,  work  in  gold, 
iron,  and  earthenware,  fishery,salt-boiling,  gold-digging,  and  weaving. 
New  occupations  introduced  by  Europeans,  are:  brick-laying,  car- 
pentry, cooperage,  trade,  clerkship,  gold-taking,  soldiery,  tailoring, 
shoe-making,  wheel-wright's  work,  stewardship,  cookery,  canoeman- 
ship,  schoolmastership  or  teaching,  sea-shell  picking. 

Sea-shell  picking  was  a  very  profitable  occupation  for  women  in 
those  days,  as  all  the  forts  and  tanks  built  by  Europeans  on  the 
coast  were  built  with  the  lime  prepared  by  burning  those  shells 
with  lire-wood.  The  lime  obtained  from  those  shells  was  by  far 
better  than  our  present  lime  from  Europe.  If  our  people  would 
keep  to  that  occupation,  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  ordering 
lime  from  Europe.  We  desire  to  have  an  easy  life,  to  have  Euro- 
peans to  manufacture  everything  for  us,  and  to  send  every  penny 
in  the  country  into  foreign  lands,  which  will  only  make  us  slaves 
for  all  time  to  come! 

But  our  brethren  will  say:  Are  there  not  so  many  kinds  of  pro- 
duce from  the  country,  which  bring  thousands  of  pounds  sterling- 
back  to  us?  Yes,  there  are,  and  many  more  may  be  obtained  in 
future,  if  there  are  people  to  seek  them  out.    But  the  better  classes 


Chapter  XXII.  273 

amono-  us,  the  educated  eoinmuuity,  have  refrained  Croui  aoriculture 
by  which  the  riches  of  a  country  is  developed.  Is  not  aj^riculture 
the  mother  of  civilization,  the  backbone  of  national  wealth,  and 
the  type  of  the  various  branches  of  human  industry  which  have 
subsequently  sprung  up  in  all  the  civilized  world?  If  our  people 
in  being  educated  refrain  from  that  particular  work,  is  that  civili- 
zation we  aim  at,  sound?  Can  we  speak  of  civilization  when  the 
real  riches  and  resources  of  such  a  wonderfully  rich  coiuitry  are 
l)uried  in  the  ground?  When  the  grass  of  thousands  of  acres  of 
our  grass-lands  is  consumed  by  tire  every  year  and  not  yet  by 
cattle?  Supposing  our  government  has  got  all  native  hands  they 
recpiire,  the  merchants  also  as  many  clerks  as  they  want,  and  the 
missionaries  too  are  well  supplied;  —  what  would  become  of  the 
rest  of  our  educated  community?  If  no  attention  is  paid  to  other 
branches  of  industry,  will  not  the  future  of  our  educated  community 
become  miserable?  Well  dressed,  fashionable,  but  with  no  occu- 
pation; corruption  will  increase,  and  instead  of  improving  our 
country  will  retrograde  most  shamefully. 

Let  us  consult  on  this  subject  the  examples  of  the  most  civilized 
nations  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The  Israelites  were  all  hus- 
bandmen and  shepherds,  driving  their  ploughs  and  watching  their 
Hocks.  Gideon  was  threshing  his  corn  when  the  angel  told  him 
he  should  deliver  his  people.  Saul,  though  a  king,  was  driving 
oxen  when  lie  received  the  news  of  the  danger  Jabesh  Gilead 
was  in.  David  was  keeping  sheep  when  Samuel  sent  for  him  to 
anoint  him  king.  Elisha  was  called  to  be  a  prophet  when  he  was 
ploughing  with  twelve  yoke  of  oxen  of  his  father's  before  him.  With 
the  Greeks  and  Romans,  we  see  everywhere  in  Homei',  kings  and 
princes  living  upon  the  fruits  of  their  lands  and  their  flocks,  and 
working  with  their  own  hands.  We  see  by  Xenophon's  Oeconomics 
that  the  Greeks  had  no  way  lessened  their  opinion  of  husbandry, 
when  they  were  at  the  highest  pitch  of  politeness.  Whoever  is 
acquainted  with  the  life  of  Cato  the  Censor,  cannot  suspect  him  of 
a  low  way  of  thinking  or  of  meanness  of  spirit,  yea  that  great 
aum,  who  had  gone  through  all  the  offices  in  the  commonwealth 
when  it  flourished  most,  who  had  governed  provinces  and  com- 
manded armies,  that  great  orator,  lawyer  and  politician,  did  not 
think  it  beneath  him  to  write  of  the  various  ways  of  managing 
lands  and  vines,  the  method  of  building  stables  etc.  The  Cartha- 
ginians,   Egyptians,    Persians    in   the    height    of  their    power,    had 

18 


274  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and   Asaiite. 

overseers  in  every  province  to  look  after  the  tillage  ofthegronnd. 
The  Egyptians  had  such  a  reverence  for  agriculture  as  even  to 
adore  the  creatures  that  were  of  use  for  it.  Neither  are  our  modern 
most  eminent  and  powerful  politicians  in  Europe,  such  as  Mr. 
(Iladstone  and  Prince  Bismarck,  exempted  from  working  hard  with 
hands  in  their  gardens.  But  enough  has  been  proved,  so  we  turn 
to  our  subject. 

Our  people,  after  the  Europeans  had  established  themselves  in 
the  country,  did  not  carry  on  the  traffic  in  slaves  only,  but  most 
of  them  turned  their  attention  to  tlie  cultivation  of  the  soil.  Yams, 
rice  and  corn  were  so  plentiful  that  slave-sliips  were  supplied  with 
corn,  in  peaceful  times  1000  stalks  for  5  shillings,  but  in  times  of 
war  1000  stalks  for  one  ounce  of  gold.  From  Asabu  and  the  Fante 
countries  about  100  canoes  were  daily  laden  with  corn  and  yams, 
and  potatoes  at  Mowure  for  Axim  and  Akra  for  sale. 

Bosman  says,  rice  grows  in  such  prodigious  plenty,  that  it  is  easy 
to  load  a  ship  with  it,  perfectly  clean,  for  one  penny  or  less  the 
pound.  If  our  farmers  on  the  Gold  Coast  had  continued  with  the 
cultivation  of  rice  up  to  our  time,  would  our  merchants  have  to 
order  rice  from  Europe? 

After  the  conquest  of  the  Akras  by  the  Akwamus,  cultivation 
was  carried  on  close  to  tlie  towns  on  account  of  incessant  inroads 
and  kidnappings  by  the  latter.  By  and  by  those  high  forests  and 
bushes  which  attracted  so  much  rain  in  those  days  that  the  harvests 
were  plentiful,  were  all  felled  for  fuel  and  home  consumption,  and 
rain  became  scarce,  hence  scarcity  of  food  prevailed  in  June  and 
July  every  year.  This  forced  the  farmers  to  form  small  hamlets 
2  or  3  miles  distant  from  town,  such  as  Ologobi,  Tatarawa  Kpa- 
tshakole,  Sowotuom,  Abroduafa,  Legong,  Papao,  Hatsho,  Kwantanang, 
Ashikuma  etc.  The  meaning  of  Ologobi  and  Sowotuom  already 
shows  how  the  farmers  fared  at  the  hands  of  the  enemies.  The 
former  shows,  they  eluded  the  kidnap[)ers  and  escaped  home;  the 
latter,  their  plantations  could  be  made  only  by  holding  on  their 
guns  in  defence.  As  they  could  not  make  their  plantations  more 
inland,  the  harvest  in  corn  was  never  plentiful;  cassada  and  beans, 
especially  one  called  gobbegobbes  (akwei),  were  the  principal  vege- 
tables (hey  planted.  Along  the  whole  coast  such  beans  were  pre- 
pared to  a  kind  of  food  called  aboboi,  sold  to  children  every 
morning.  Hence  they  were  obliged,  during  those  days  to  bu.y  corn 
from  Fante,  Agona,  and    the    Volta  towns.     In  doing  this,    several 


Chapter  XXII.  275 

women  and  men  fell  into    the   hands    of  man-stealers  and  robbers. 

When  the  Akwamus  had  been  conquered  and  expelled  from 
Nyanawase  to  where  they  are  now,  the  farmers  extended  their 
plantations  some  few  miles  inland.  Yet  they  could  not  go  farther 
till  the  Akwamu  refugees  liad  been  sought  for  and  reinstated  in 
the  bush.  There  were  three  noble  women  of  Akwamu  given  as 
hostages  in  Akra,  one  was  given  in  James  Town,  one  in  Asere, 
whose  name  was  (Jpoma  Tia,  and  one  in  Obese.  Kpakpa  Asoanna, 
the  head-chief  of  the  Akuashong,  got  Opgma  Tia,  who,  as  appears, 
was  kept  as  a  wife  by  the  chief.  On  account  of  that  connection 
the  Akwamu  refugee  Adsham  Botwe,  then  residing  at  Amanforo, 
became  known  to  the  chief  and  was  treated  as  a  brother-in-law  by 
Kpakpfi,  through  whose  advice  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra  ap- 
})ointed  Adsham  Botwe  as  the  overseer  of  the  whole  conquered  land 
of  the  Akwamus. 

Having  been  so  favoured  by  the  chiefs  of  Akra,  to  become  the 
overseer  of  the  land  formerly  belonging  to  his  people,  Adsham 
Botwe  also  called  the  following  Akwamu  refugees  to  his  assistance 
viz.,  Adshama  Otuoko,  Otabi,  Kwasi  Adae,  Kwasi  Batam,  and 
Panyin  Anyankoe.  These  hunters  assisted  Adsham  Botwe  in  the 
management  of  the  whole  land,  and  by  degrees  they  managed  to 
call  in  Atshia  and  Amoa,  who  had  some  connection  with  the  royal 
family  of  Akvi'amu  from  Agona  and  Fante.  Atshia  founded  after- 
wards the  village  which  liears  his  name  Atshiamang,  and  Amoa 
also  that  of  Amoamang.  These  Akwamu  fugitives,  but  with  some 
blood-relations  in  Akra,  encouraged  the  Akra  farmers  to  extend 
their  cultivation  and  villages  more  inland.  At  that  time  any  piece 
of  land  an  Akra  farmer  was  able  to  cultivate  was  considered  as 
his.  But  in  course  of  time  the  fugitives,  perceiving  how  careless 
the  Akra  chiefs  were  about  land,  and  even  what  was  their  right 
by  conquest,  turned  round  and  made  themselves  chiefs  and  owners 
of  tlie  whole  land,  and  began  collecting  rents  and  selling  back  those 
pieces  which  had  been  cleared  by  the  former  planters  and  which 
were  known  as  their  property,  either  to  their  children  or  to  other 
parties  who  offered  large  sums  for  them.  A  very  considerable  pari 
of  the  rent  was,  however,  given  to  the  king.  They,  especially  chief 
Amoa,  went  on  selling  the  lands  till  he  was  warndy  opposed  by 
the  brave  farmers  at  the  village  of  Opa.  Amoa  impudently  sum- 
moned them  to  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra;  which  they  accordinglv 
obeyed,  and  at  the  court  the  Opa   farmers  told  in  the  nndionce  of 

18* 


276  History  of  the  Gold   Coast    iind  Asante, 

Akra  that  the  laud  was  the  conquered  property  of  their  forefathers, 
Amoa,  beiug  a  fug-itive  whom  they  should  consider  as  a  captive 
of  theirs,  could  never  deprive  them  of  their  property.  After  this 
no  i)iece  was  sold  again. 

But  in  consequence  of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country  by  the 
incessant  kidnapping  and  plundering  of  the  Obutus  and  Akuapenis, 
the  farmers  were  unable  to  cultivate  the  land  as  they  should  have 
done,  until  the  robbers  and  |)lunderers  of  l)Oth  places  had  been 
checked.  Some  even  were  killed,  such  as  one  hunter  Nseni  of 
Obutu,  who  was  killed  by  the  Labade  hunter  Kote  Amirim,*)  and 
several  others  who  shared  the  same  fate  from  the  Akra  palm-wine 
carriers  and  the  iron-hearted  company  known  as  "Odshofoi," 

The  palm-wine  carriers  formed  a  most  powerful  body  in  those 
days,  as  they  defended  the  country  from  such  robbers.  Any  serious 
case  was  at  that  time  settled  by  them.  If  their  oath  had  been 
sworn  and  the  defendant  showed  a  slight  sign  of  contempt,  they 
came  in  full  number  with  about  100  or  200  [)0ts  of  wine  and  broke 
them  at  the  gate  of  the  defendant.  When  the  case  was  then  looked 
into  and  settled^  the  defendant  had  to  pay  not  only  for  the  wine, 
but  also  for  so  many  pots  broken.  A  whole  family  must  be  sold 
to  pay  such  cruel  and  foolish  tine!  —  The  farmers  enjoyed  peace 
only  after  General  Amaukwa  Aluiuyawa  had  punished  the  Akua- 
penis and  B^antes  in  1814. 

Besides  the  slight  general  scarcity  which  prevailed  in  June  and 
July  every  year,  great  famines  were  sometimes  caused  by  war  and 
scarcity  of  rain,  or  by  locusts. 

Famines  which  are  still  in  the  recollection  of  old  people  are  those 
in  the  year  1809,  which  was  brought  about  by  the  Asante  invasion 
of  Fante  in  1807.  Those  in  1816,  1822,  1825,  1829,  18:^2  —  all  came 
on  in  consequence  of  war,  at  which  times  people  could  not  properly 
attend  to  cultivation,  or  sometimes  by  insufficient  rain.  It  was 
during  those  famines  that  man}'  a  Fante  was  sold  for  a  lew  pounds 
weight  of  corn. 

During  such  famines  women  and  children  were  seen  at  Akra 
engaged  every  day  in  search  of  wild  fruits  and  roots,  —  the  fruits 
of  the  fan-palm,  date-palm  and    all  kinds  of  berries,  very  plentiful 


*)  A  huuter's  song  composed  by  Kote  Amirim  on  this  incident  was: 
"Amirim,  wosua  woyi,  Af  itii  Bereka  wobisam',  Ka-nerebo?"  i.  e.  Amirim 
is  the  exceptional,  who  being  asked  by  an  Afutu  Bereku  man:  "What 
the  matter  is?" 


Chapter  XXII.  277 

ill  thos(3  days,  such  as  uoko,  kgfu,  aimiyiii,  etc.  The  fruits  of  the 
fan-pahii  especially  supplied  am[)le  food.  Another  rcsoarce  ao-ainst 
famine  were  the  wild  roots  called  akpatsha.  They  j^rew  sometimes 
as  big-  as  the  tist  and  resembled  the  sweet  potatoes  in  form.  You 
saw  women  and  children  early  every  morning-  strolling  in  the 
plains  about  a  mile  from  the  towns  in  search  of  akpatsha.  When 
a  woman  found  one,  she  joyfully  began  to  sing,  '^Asaba  titriku 
amano,  mina  onu  si  te  oyohV  Kolete,  Kglema.""  There  are  two 
kinds  of  ak[)atsha  —  wuonete  and  shamoto.  When  they  were 
brought  home,  they  were  divided  among  the  boys  and  girls  and 
eaten  raw. 

Those  who  had  relations  and  friends  at  Akua[)em,  especially  at 
Berekuso,  went  there  in  search  of  unripe  plantains,  which  they 
dried  in  the  sun  or  smoked  in  the  kitchen,  where  a  row  of  wooden 
pins  was  tixed  on  the  wall  three  or  four  feet  above  the  hearth. 
On  those  pins  the  plantains  were  dried  by  smoke,  after  which  they 
were  ground  and  prejtared.  It  is  related  that  mothers  were  often 
obliged  to  put  some  pebbles  in  the  pot,  pour  out  water  on  them 
and  set  them  to  boil  only  to  keep  their  children  (|uiet  till  some- 
thing should  turn  up  for  them  to  eat.  As  tishes  were  very  plenti- 
ful —  a  sign  of  the  goodness  of  our  heavenly  Father  towards  His 
children  —  a  herring  often  costing  only  one  cowry,  or  40  herrings 
one  string,  now  nearly  half  a  penny,  and  several  leaves  of  plants 
served  the  [turpose  of  cabbage  etc.,  life  was  sustained. 

On  account  of  such  scarcity  of  food  in  June  and  July  every 
year,  the  Akra  name  their  annual  feast,  Homowo  or  Homoyiwgmo, 
which  means,  a  hooting  at  hunger.  Instead  of  giving  thanks  and 
praises  to  God  for  the  blessing  obtained,  they  hoot  the  hunger  to 
shame  it! 

We  come  next  to  famines  brought  about  by  the  locusts.  Our 
old  people  s[)eak  of  the  locusts  which  had  visited  the  Gold  Coast 
for  the  lirst  time  in  about  1740  and  destroyed  all  vegetables,  so 
that  a  very  strong  famine  came  and  people  were  obliged  to  travel 
to  Ningo  and  the  Volta  towns  to  buy  corn. 

This  led  to  a  terrible  increase  of  panyarring  and  man-stealing. 
Many  Akra  women  were  sold.  Some  were  fortunate  to  be  redeemed 
by  their  relatives,  but  others  were  carried  away  and  remained  in 
captivity  for  life 

In  the  present  century  locusts  have  appeared  three  times. 

In  1833,  just  when  the   second   corn-harvest  was    ripening,  they 


378  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

visited  us,  but  did  not  damage  the  crops  much.  It  was  the  time 
our  people  became  acquainted  with  them.  They  not  knowing  that 
they  are  a  Divine  judgment  upon  a  nation  (Ex.  10,  12 — 15;  Ps. 
105,34.35;  Joel  1,4—7;  2,25—27)  entertain  the  notion  that  there 
is  a  high  mountain  at  Agu  in  Krei)e,  where  the  locusts  dwell  and 
are  worshipped  annually  as  a  kind  of  fetish,  and  when  the  priest 
is  offended  by  the  people  of  Agu,  he  allows  the  locusts  to  come 
out  from  the  mountain  to  destroy  their  produce. 

In  May  1838  the  locusts  again  visited  the  Gold  Coast  just  when 
the  corn-fields  were  about  shooHng  out  blossoms.  They  were  so 
numerous  that  the  sun  was  hardly  visible,  and  they  destroyed 
every  green  leaf.  Corn,  yam,  and  cassada  plantations  were  con- 
sumed by  them  as  if  a  great  contlagration  had  swe[)t  over  the 
whole  country.  Every  tree  was  seen  leafless,  the  plantain  trees, 
the  grass  on  the  plains  were  all  eaten  up.  When  they  had  been 
a  few  minutes  in  a  plantation,  you  saw  nothing  but  the  naked 
soil  without  any  plant  on  it.  They  marched  first  in  a  direct  line 
along  the  Akuaj)eni  mountains  towards  Adshenkotoku,  but  fortu- 
nately a  strong  storm  blew  from  the  West,  which  kept  them  back 
from  destroying  the  crops  there.  This  providentially  saved  the 
crops  in  Adshenkotoku  from  being  consumed  by  them,  and  a  rich 
harvest  was  obtained  from  that  part.  Being  thus  retarded,  they 
turned  their  course  to  Akuapem  and  to  the  coast,  destroying  all 
the  cassada  plantations.  When  that  west  wind  had  subsided,  they 
resumed  their  march  to  Fante  where  they  could  not  destroy  much 
crop  as    the  luirvest  was  then  ripe. 

People  were  glad  to  have  got  rid  of  them,  but  alas,  not  very 
long  after  they  had  gone,  the  canker-worms  came  up,  which  are 
more  destructive  to  plants  and  fruit-trees  than  the  locusts  them- 
selves. These  could  not  fly,  hence  the  wind  had  no  power  on 
them,  and  they  did  more  mischief;  they  were  found  everywhere 
too  numerous  to  be  destroyed.  And  they  were  so  obstinate  that 
no  farmer  could  do  anything  in  his  power  to  [)revent  their  coming 
to  his  plantation  where  some  crops  had  been  left.  Whereto  they 
are  prevented  to  march,  there  they  march  to.  'See  Prophet  Joel 
1,  2 — 7.  In  the  first  and  second  months  of  the  year  1839  nobody 
knew  where  they  went  to. 

In  about  1842  the  locusts  appeared  again  in  the  country,  but 
not  so  numerous  and  destructive  as  before;  they  kept  Hying  only 
in  the  air    till  they  were  seen  no  more. 


Chapter  XXII.  279 

Durinjj;-  all  such  times  of  trouble  the  people  applied  for  aid  to  the 
fetishes;  so  numerous  sacrifices  were  made  in  every  town  in  all  the 
country.  As  our  peo[)le  generally  find  fault  with  anythiug-  they 
fancy  was  the  cause  of  such  troubles,  imagining-  such  as  otYence  to 
their  fetishes,  the  inhabitants  of  Labade  attributed  the  coming  of  the 
locusts  to  their  chief  having  a  superfluous  number  of  fingers.  The 
venerable  kin^  or  chief  was  ordered  to  give  up  his  services  in  the 
court  of  Lai<pa,  and  his  successor  to  act  in  his  place. 

People  becoming  aware  of  the  famines  brought  about  by  the 
locusts,  changed  altogether  the  mode  of  jilanting  cassada  in  their 
plantations.  They  hitherto  had  [)lanted  the  cassada  thinly  in  their 
bean  plantations,  now  the  farmers  along-  the  coast  set  upon 
making-  s[»ecial  large  cassada  plantations.  Those  in  James  Town 
and  Dutch  Town  made  large  cassada  plantntions  at  Dshonya,  which 
proved  wonderfully  fruitful,  that  others  were  encouraged  to  follow 
their  example. 

Resides,  most  of  the  Europeans  and  native  merchants  then  on 
the  coast  made  several  gardens ;  we  heard  of  Hansen,  Rannerman, 
Henry  Rarnes*),  Ankra,  Richter,  Holm,  Svanikier,  Truelson,  Toun- 
ing  etc.,  who  had  nice  gardens  close  to  the  towns;  the  native 
headmen  also  had  their  gardens. 

Provisions  were  cheap  in  those  days.  A  load  of  corn  of  80  lbs. 
weight  cost  15 — ^25  strings  of  cowries,  say  about  3*'— (>''  in  our 
days.  A  loaf  of  bread  of  1  lb.  cost  y  cowries,  of  273  lbs.  25 
cowries,  whilst  presently  four  of  1  lb.  loaf  cost  o«^ .  A  big  hen 
cost  5  strings,  a  cock  4  strings,  and  an  ordinary  chicken  2  7'  strings. 
As  provision  was  cheap,  so  labour  was  cheap.  A  common  labourer 
got  2^5  strings  per  day,  a  carpenter  or  bricklaj^er  1 — 3  heads  of 
cowries  per  month;  a  soldier  got  2 7a  heads  of  cowries  per  month, 
which  being  paid  generally  in  goods,  the  workmen  retailed  those 
goods  with  good  profit.  The  piece  of  iron  bar  which  was  the 
ordinary  pay  of  a  soldier  was  sold  for  6  heads  of  cowries;  the 
four  yards   of  cloth  (or  12  lines  and  16  lines  of  country  cloth,  the 

*)  Mr.  Barnes  not  only  made  a  plantation  or  garden  on  the  Shooter's 
Hill  in  1835,  put  the  first  mango  seed  into  the  ground  in  June  '23,  1843, 
which  he  may  have  obtained  from  our  West-Indian  Emigrants  who  came 
out  that  year;  but  he  also  made  a  carriage  road  from  Anomabo  to 
Akrot'ul,  which  took  him  3  years  to  finish,  being  commenced  on  Thurs- 
day 5'^'  November  1840  to  Monday  20"'  November  1843.  For  which 
he  spent  J^  147  sterling.  Hansen,  Bannerman  and  Richter  also  made 
such  roads  from   Akra  to   Christiunsborg. 


280  History  ot  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asuute. 

former  cost  2b  strings,  the  latter  30 — 50  strings),  whicli  was  the 
monthly  pay  for  a  carpenter  or  bricklayer,  was  sold  for  1  head  and 
10 — 25  str.  Even  when  silver  coins  were  used  in  paying  labourers 
and  things,  as  there  were  no  shilling  and  six-pence  pieces,  the 
dollar  was  cut  into  four  pieces,  called  quarter-moneys,  which  the 
employers  and  buyers  even  used  to  deceive  the  employe  by  cutting 
the  pieces  as  they  liked,  until  we  were  favoured  by  good  Old  Eng- 
land with  these  small  coins. 

But  our  people  of  the  present  age  would  say,  the  ancients  were 
fools,  we  would  never  condescend  to  be  paid  thus!  We  think,  we 
rather  are  the  fools  in  our  present  age,  and  we  shall  remain  fools 
until  we  understand  what  civilization  means.  If  a  farmer  becomes 
rich  by  his  trade,  and  instead  of  improving  that  trade  by  employing 
many  hands  and  planting  several  plants,  he  takes  that  money  and 
invests  it  in  mercantile  pursuits,  a  in'ofession  to  which  he  is  igno- 
rant, is  that  civilization  V  A  fisherman  becoming  rich  by  his  trade 
ought  to  improve  it  by  buying  new  boats,  yea,  if  possible,  ordering 
out  any  such  tiling  in  use  in  Europe;  of  course,  if  one  man  can't 
undertake  to  order  out  such  a  boat,  let  a  number  of  such  men  form 
a  sort  of  a  company.  But  if  instead  of  this  he  makes  himself  a 
trader  and  is  not  trained  for  such  a  profession,  he  must  certainly 
fall.  What  is  thatV  When  all  the  educated  community  are  too 
polished  to  become  farmers  and  fishermen  etc.,  but  the  whole  body 
must  become  clerks  and  clerks  alone,  or  traders,  the  consequence 
will  be  the  dearness  of  provisions.  The  last  30  years  have  made 
a  wonderful  change  in  the  prices  of  everything,  as  we  have  seen 
above;  another  30  years  again  will  make  us  miserable,  that,  to  use 
the  popular  phrase,  'Sve  shall  have  to  live  on  silver"',  that  is, 
money  will  be  cheaper  than  provision  is.  In  illustration  we  give 
an  instance  of  the  state  of  provision  in  Krobo.  The  Krobos  are 
known  to  be  the  best  and  able  farmers  on  the  Gold  Coast;  all  the 
inhabitants  of  about  40,000  in  number  are  engaged  in  farming, 
viz.,  palm-oil  making,  which  obliges  them  to  have  all  their  lands 
planted  with  palm-trees.  Although  they  buy  thousands  of  acres  of 
land  from  the  Akuapems,  Akwamus,  and  Akems,  but  these  lands 
are  so  distant  from  towns  that  provisions  there  obtained  can  scarcely 
be  conveyed  to  market,  hence  provisions  are  dearer  in  Krobo  than 
even  on  the  coast.  If  the  whole  population  on  the  Gold  Coast  will 
only  turn  their  attention  to  one  trade  and  being  clerks,  the  con- 
sequence will  be  just  the  same. 


Chapter  XXII.  281 

Tlic  rearing'  of  cattle  and  poultry,  which  was  introduced  into  the 
country  by  European  farmers,  so  that  bullocks,  sheep,  and  turkeys 
etc.  were  i)lenty,  is  entirely  neglected;  the  Adas  alone  keep  to 
that  trade  and  supply  the  coast  with  these  necessaries.  The  g-rass 
in  Keta  is  worse  than  any  other  else,  but  through  industry  there 
bullocks  are  o-btained.  We  have  every  facility  to  become  monied 
men,  respectable  men,  if  we  onlj'  give  up  the  false  notion  of  civ- 
ilization which  we  aim  at,  and  turn  to  our  rich  soil,  and  work  with 
our  own  hands!  With  i-eg'ard  to  our  educated  men,  we  may  say 
they  do  their  best  to  earn  their  living;  if  those  not  employed, 
would  turn  their  attention  to  other  occupations,  that  so  many  hun- 
dreds of  youths  leaving  school  every  year  would  not  depend  alone 
on  being-  employed  as  clerks,  then  it  will  be  well. 

But  our  educated  ladies  not  only  refrain  from  hard  working,  they 
have  also  no  desire  for  education.  The  only  desire  they  have 
seems  to  be,  "Let  us  learn  to  make  our  dresses  as  European 
ladies  and  to  dress  like  them,  but  never  trouble  our  minds  much 
about  books.'  (There  are,  however,  some  exceptions.)  If  our  ladies 
have  no  desire  for  education  and  to  be  able  to  read  for  themselves 
as  a  lady's  life  is  passed  in  the  civilized  world,  neither  are  desirous 
to  work,  what  would  be  the  civilization  we  aim  at?  The  pros- 
perity of  a  family,  the  prosperity  of  a  town,  of  a  Christian  Church 
and  of  a  whole  country  depends  on  ladies.  If  they  be  better  edu- 
cated, if  the}'  be  good  Christians  and  are  industrious!  Indeed,  we 
admit  that  some  degree  of  civilization  on  the  Gold  Coast  sprang- 
from  the  Mulatto  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who  were  the  children  of 
the  European  big  merchants  and  high  officials  once  residing-  on 
the  coast.  They  having-  been  favoured  by  inheritance  to  become 
owners  of  large  estates,  would  of  course  not  do  otherwise  than  live 
as  such.  The  lower  classes  imitate  them  with  the  mistaken  idea 
that  to  go  in  a  European  dress  is  to  play  the  lady,  and  that,  as 
soon  as  one  puts  on  dress,  she  is  to  live  as  the  rich  ladies.  But 
our  ladies  would  ask,  what  kind  of  work  are  we  required  to  do? 
We  do  needle  work,  trade  on  a  small  scale,  and  what  else?  We 
say,  does  that  pay?  Trade  may  pay,  but  can  you  keep  your 
accounts  as  traders  generally  do?  Go  to  Sierra  Leone  and  Lagos, 
and  you  will  lind  ladies  doing  what  other  people  of  their  sex  do; 
but  on  the  Gold  Coast  you  lind  the  contrary.  If  we  make  our 
uneducated  mass  of  girls  and  boys  to  understand  education  in  that 
light,  we  become   a  stumbling-lilock   on    their  way  to    civilization. 


282  Histuiy    of  the  Gold   Coast    and   Asaute. 

The  Basel  missionaries  have  introduced  a  mode  for  educated  females 
up  in  the  interior,  that  althonj^h  one  is  so  educated,  she  does  not 
refrain  from  working  in  her  husband's  plantation,  or  do  all  manner 
of  women's  work  during  the  week;  yet  yon  find  them  in  their 
dresses  on  Sundays.  If  one  from  the  interior  comes  to  the  coast, 
where  she  should  do  as  she  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  there  np, 
you  find  her  putting  off  dressing  and  go  in  the  habits  of  the  un- 
educated, only  not  to  be  laughed  at  by  coast  ladies,  whilst  we  find 
the  Sierra  Leone  and  Lagos  women  of  the  lower  classes  put  on 
their  dresses  and  do  all  work  that  others  do  in  their  country. 
They  keej»  to  the  princij)les  which  had  been  implanted  in  them, 
but  not  one  of  the  Gold  Coast  ladies  keeps  to  the  princi[)les  in 
which  she  was  trained. 

This  want  of  [)rinci[)les  in  us  Africans,  especially  we  (liold  Coast 
Africans,  that  those  who  have  got  education  in  Euroi»e  look  down 
on  our  own  brethren  who  were  educated  in  the  country,  is  the 
sole  cause  of  the  unimproved  state  of  the  country.  Such  of  us  who 
are  so  i»rovidcntially  favoured,  prefer  to  keej)  rather  with  the  white 
men,  who  in  reality  will  never  take  them  as  one  of  themselves; 
yet  they  ingratiate  themselves  into  their  society.  But  they  may 
ask,  wliere  is  a  society  suitable  for  our  jiolishment,  but  that  of  the 
Europeans?  Our  brethren  are  too  low  to  keep  our  society.  We 
say,  no!  There  are  people,  althongh  educated  in  the  country  among 
the  mass,  who  are  respectable,  behave  respectably,  who  could  be 
selected  to  form  a  society  if  we  don't  despise  them.  For  the  last 
15  years  the  European  residents  on  the  Gold  Coast  have  ke[>t 
society  with  the  natives,  although  not  alwaj'S  beneficial  for  the 
country,  but  nowadays  they  have  refrained  entirely  to  keep  with 
us.  Is  this  no  lesson  for  us  that  we  should  form  different  societies 
among  ourselves?  Let  the  better  classes  among  us  diffuse  their 
better  qualifications,  their  Christian  and  moral  qualifications,  into 
the  rest,  and  then  a  change  will  certainly  take  place  on  the  Gold 
Coast.  It  is  better  now,  we  suppose,  in  the  Fante  country,  if  all 
we  hear  is  as  reported.  If  there  were  such  associations  as  Chris- 
tian Young  Men's  Associations  and  the  like,  any  undertaking  for 
agriculture,  education  or  Christianity  could  be  easily  carried  out 
among  us  with  success. 

But,  before  we  say  anything  about  what  our  Colonial  Govern- 
ment should  do  to  get  the  colony  prosperous,  we  must  first  take 
a  short  glance  on  the  past  state  of  the  (xold  Coast.     Some  two  hun- 


Chapter  XXII.  283 

(ired  years  aoo,  the  Gold  Coast  was  split  into  several  parts  under 
different  native  and  Enroi)ean  ^governments.  After  the  Portuj^uese 
had  left  the  coast,  the  Dutch  had  possessions  and  influence,  the 
Danes  and  the  English  had  theirs,  the  French  and  (for  a  short 
time)  the  Hranden burgs  also  had  theirs.  Sucli  a  small  country  of 
an  area  of  20,000  sq.  m.  had  so  many  different  masters  of  different 
nationalities  and  different  laws;  what  a  pity!  lUit  after  the  Danes 
and  the  Dutch  also  had  gone,  good  old  England  has  been  left  alone 
on  the  field.  What  all  those  governments  might  have  done  re- 
S})ectively  for  the  improvement  of  the  country  and  the  amelioration 
of  the  dilTerent  portions  of  the  p(;ople  under  them,  could  now  be 
effected  more  easily  than  before.  And  we  are  very  glad  and 
thankful  that  Providence  has  placed  our  country  and  people  under 
C'hristian  England.  May  it  please  the  almighty  God,  whose  chil- 
dren we  too  are,  to  bless  and  extend  the  empire  of  our  most 
gracious  sovereign  (^ueen  Victoria! 

We  are  fully  content  to  be  under  the  sway  of  our  most  blessed 
sovereign,  because,  when  we  cast  our  glance  on  all  the  colonies 
under  England,  we  see  great  improvement.  Even  in  those  colonies 
where  our  brethren  had  been  dragged  to  as  slaves,  but  were  made 
free  by  England,  great  improvements  have  been  made,  while  the 
mother  country  is  behind  her  daughters.  We  however  entertain 
all  hopes  that  the  true  old  English  spirit  and  English  blood  is  still 
running  in  the  reins  of  the  peo[)le  of  England,  which  inspires  us 
with  courage,  that  although  we  of  the  mother  country  are  behind, 
yet  our  time  is  not  far  distant  when  we  also  shall  be  elevated 
from  our  degradation.  We  therefore  look  to  England,  we  look  to 
the  English  people,  but  principally  to  our  colonial  government  to 
help    us    on.     The  Basel  Mission,  if  we  be  allowed  the  expression 

—  the  divinely-sent  mission   for    the    improvement  of  our  country 

—  the  mission  that  does  not  only  teach  and  preach  the  glorious 
gospel,  but  educate  the  people  nearly  in  every  branch  of  industry, 
and  for  that  purpose  have  opened  several  industrial  establishments 
at  (Jhristiansborg  for  joiners,  wheel-wrights,  lock-smiths,  black- 
smiths, shoemakers,  etc.,  has  done  and  is  still  doing  its  [)art  for  the 
country.  We  expect  our  colonial  government  will  now  come  for- 
w^ard  to  do  its  part.  We  live  in  the  best  period  of  the  Gold  Coast, 
because  war,  which  hinders  the  advancement  and  improvement  of 
a  nation,  is  no  more  to  be  heard  of  in  the  country  since  the  power 
of  Asaiite  has  been  broken   into  pieces  l)y   the  Piritisli   army   under 


284  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Lord  Wolseley.  And  therefore  any  undertaking  for  the  improve- 
ment of  the  country  can  easily  be  carried  out  with  success. 

We  l)rin<i;  this  to  the  notice  of  our  colonial  government  that  a 
few  years  after  the  battle  of  Katamansu  (Dodowa)  in  1826,  the 
Danish  government  introduced  industrj'  into  the  government  school, 
that  the  scholars  must  not  depend  only  on  becoming  soldiers,  bnt 
should  be  taught  properly  in  fishery,  agriculture,  etc.  It  appears 
that  that  kind  goveiwior  Henrick  G.  Lind,  who  introduced  that  plan 
and  for  that  [)urpose  brought  out  his  whole  family  and  several 
immigrants,  was  forced  to  return  to  Europe  on  account  of  ill-health 
in  1831,  .Ian.  20,  and  his  successor  allowed  that  scheme  to  fall  off. 
It  is,  therefore,  high  time  for  our  English  colonial  government  to 
do  something  for  the  present  and  the  coming  generation.  Either 
to  co-operate  with  the  painstaking  and  frugal  Basel  lay  missionaries, 
by  allowing  our  mission  a  certain  sum  annually  for  teaching  in- 
dnstry.  If  that  were  the  case,  our  mission  would  then  enlarge  their 
esta!)lishnients  to  employ  more  hands  than  at  |)resent.  Or,  that 
our  colonial  government  should  undertake  to  build  such  work- 
shops and  send  out  the  best  West-Indian  artisans  to  su[»erintend 
those  estalilishments,  if  they  would  have  it  independent  of  our 
mission. 

Above  all  this,  the  most  im[)ortant  thing  needful  in  the  colony 
is,  roads!  WhatV  we  may  have  and  already  have  wheelwrights, 
but  where  are  the  roads V  If  our  colonial  government  even  would 
at  once  undertake  to  open  industrial  establishments,  but  no  good 
cart-roads,  it  would  be  a  mistake.  Hence,  we  want  roads,  say, 
for  the  present,  three  good  cart-roads  for  Akra,  of  at  least  30  miles 
each,  as  a  trial.  By  these  the  provisions  which  are  so  plentiful  in 
the  plantations,  could  be  conve,yed  to  the  coast  very  cheap,  and 
the  [>roduce  for  the  merchants  the  same.  B'irewood  for  home  con- 
sumption is  [tresently  too  dear,  lbs.  50  weight  for  one  shilling;  it 
will  also  become  cheap.  Our  joiners  and  wheelwrights  as  well  as 
our  architects  will  be  supplied  with  all  materials  for  their  work, 
and  then  our  money  will  remain  in  the  colony  for  the  colony's 
own  jirosperity.  Otherwise  the  future  of  our  colony  as  to  its  ad- 
vancement, improvement,  and  j)rosperity  is  doubtful.  We  humbly 
suggest  to  our  colonial  government  chapter  XVIII,  pp.  249 — 264 
in  the  ''Sketch  of  the  Forestry  of  West  Africa*"  by  his  P]xcellency 
Alfred  Moloney  C.  M.  G.,  a  book  written  by  one  of  our  governors ! 


Cliapter  XXIII.  281 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  causes  that  led  to  the  iirst*)   civil  war   between  Kumase  and  Dwaben. 
Battle  and  retreat  of  Boaten  to  Akem  1882. 

As  tlie  capture  of  Kumase  by  general  Loi'd  Woiselej'  and  Sir 
John  II.  (Jlover  resulted  in  a  civil  war  between  Kuniase  and  Dwa- 
ben in  the  year  187(1,  just  so  the  defeat  of  the  Asantes  at  Kata- 
mansn  led  to  a  civil  war  between  these  two  kingdoms  in  1882. 

Hoaten,  the  king-  of  Dwaben,  was  a  great  favourite  of  the  late  king 
Osei  Bonsu  during  the  time  of  his  reign.  Osei  Yaw,  who  siu^ceeded 
Bonsu,  was  envious  of  the  favors  shown  to  Boaten  when  the  king 
was  alive.  Tiie  old  ill-feeling  was  cherished  even  on  his  accession 
to  the  stool,  and  became  stronger  after  their  inglorious  retreat  from 
the  coast,  during  wiiich  Boaten  had  managed  to  secure  the  golden 
stool  from  being  captured  on  the  tield  of  battle.  The  envious  cap- 
tains of  Asante  increased  this  ill-will  by  putting  an  unfavourable 
construction  upon  the  conduct  of  Boaten  in  this  matter.  They  even 
charged  him  with  luiving  retained  the  public  treasure  lost  in  the 
campaign,  insinuatino  that,  as  he  had  managed  to  seciu-e  the  golden 
stool,  the  j)ublic  chest  carried  with  it  must  likewise  be  in  his  i)OS- 
sessiou. 

Yaw  Osekyere  of  Nsuta,  one  of  the  principal  captains  over  the 
left  (lank  of  the  van,  fell  in  the  battle  of  Katamansu.  On  their 
arrival  to  Asante  the  following  persons,  Oweredu  Kwatia  and 
BeriO  on  one  part,  and  Mafo  and  Okwawe  Dgkono  on  the  other 
part,  were  competing  for  the  stool  of  Nsuta.  Oweredu  Kwatia  and 
Beriti  with  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Nsuta  applied  to  Boaten  to 
settle  the  dispute  and   to  j)lace  one  of  them  on  the  stool. 

But  their  rivals,  Mafo  and  Okwawe  applied  to  the  king  at  Ku- 
nuise.  When  that  became  known  to  Oweredu  Kwatia  and  Berifi, 
they  requested  Boaten  to  ask  the  king  that  a  fetish  oath  should 
be  administered  whether  their  lives  would  be  safe  if  they  appeared 
in  Kumase.  To  which  the  king  replied  that  there  was  no  neces- 
sity of  taking  any  fetish,  as  he  had  nothing  personally  against 
them.  Boaten,  to  appease  their  minds,  ordered  his  brotlier  Kofi 
Boaten  to  take  fetish  with  his  clients.     Athough  the  king  of  Dwa- 


*)  The  Dvvahens  speak  of  three  or  more  civil  wars  wliich  had  taken 
place  between  them  and  the  Kumases  jirior  to  this  But  this  one  is  the 
first  one  known  on  the  coast. 


286  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and   Asante. 

ben  may  have  the  riglit  to  settle  R,uy  case  of  Nsuta,  yet  as  the 
king  of  Kimiase  had  the  right  over  both  states,  he  invited  Boaten 
to  appear  in  Kumase  to  settle  the  case  there;  which  he  accordingly 
did  and  brought  his  clients  to  Kumase. 

A  grand  court  was  held  in  which  Mafo  stated  all  the  secrets  lie 
knew  of  Oweredu  and  Okwawe,  how  they  had  been  in  the  habit 
of  murdering  the  king's  people  passing  through  Nsuta  to  Salaga 
and  taken  their  property.  The  king's  servants  thus  murdered  se- 
cretly were  said  to  be  about  80  persons.  As  there  was  no  evidence 
in  their  defence,  they  were  condemned  and  the  king  appointed 
one  of  his  nominees  to  the  stool  of  Nsuta,  but  ordered  Boaten's 
clients  to  be  ironed  with  all  their  relatives,  60  persons  in  number. 
The  case  being  thus  settled,  the  king  went  to  Bereinan,  thence  he 
commissioned  Oteng  with  about  1000  men  to  kill  those  unfortunate 
persons  at  dead  of  night.  The  king  of  Dwaben,  hearing  of  this 
heinous  act,  returned  home  in  a  rage.  Some  believed  that  those 
60  persons  had  committed  suicide,  when  their  two  chiefs,  Oweredu 
Kwatia  and  Berifi  were  condemned    by  the  king  to   be  beheaded. 

Knowing  what  ill-treatment  he  had  given  to  Boaten,  the  king 
sent  several  presents  to  pacify  him,  which  of  course,  he  indignantly 
received,  and  after  one  year,  he  could  feel  at  ease  to  go  to  Kumase 
again.     A  few  months  after  this  the  following  case  happened. 

Yaw  Odabo,  alias  Kotiaku,  a  subject  to  the  prince  of  Dwaben, 
so  resembled  the  prince,  that  one  could  scarcely  tell  one  from  the 
other.  They  looked  like  twin  brothers;  hence  Boaten  took  him 
for  a  companion.  He  loved  him  so  tenderly  that  he  shared  every 
tiling  equally  with  him.  That  state  of  companionship  continued 
uninterrupted  even  after  the  prince  became  king  of  Dwaben. 

One  day  Kotiaku  had  to  spend  a  good  part  of  the  night  in  the 
parlour  of  Boaten  in  conversing  with  him.  But  on  his  retiring 
home  he  stole  into  the  king's  harem  and  committed  rape  on  three 
of  his  most  beloved  wives.  "It  is  a  very  long  time  since  I  had 
the  favour  of  being  seen  by  my  lord  the  king,  said  Osewa  Kramo, 
I  wish  therefore  to  call  for  a  light  to  see  your  face,  before  you 
take  leave  of  me."  The  light  was  forthwith  brought  in,  and  to 
her  great  surprise  she  found  that  it  was  Kotiaku,  but  not  the  king. 
"Akuamua  Bena!"  was  the  loud  cry  she  made.  ''What  was  the 
matter?"  asked  one  of  the  wives  Being  told  that  it  was  Kotiaku 
—  "Was  it  he  who  was  with  me  too?"  she  also  asked.  The  third 
wife   then   said,    "It    must   have    been    Kotiaku  who  was  witii   me 


Chapter  XXTIT.  287 

too."  A  great  alarm  was  consequently  made  in  the  women's  yard, 
and  the  king-  was  apprized  of  what  had  happened. 

The  big  kettledrum  was  beaten,  and  the  whole  DvVaben  assembled 
in  the  king's  house.  The  unpleasant  story  was  told,  and  ex[)ress 
messengers  were  dispatched  to  Kumase  the  same  night  to  inform 
the  kino-.  Meanwhile  tlie  unfortunate  Kotiaku  had  effected  his  es- 
cape  also  to  Kumase,  where  he  was  apprehended.  The  king  of 
DVv^aben  insisted  upon  his  being  delivered  up  with  his  family  and 
relatives,  his  mother  Akuwa  Friyie,  his  sister  Ofewa,  and  his  wife 
Otrewa  and  child,  to  be  punished  with  death.  According  to  the 
law  of  Asante,  the  offender  alone  is  to  be  punished,  but  not  with 
his  family.  The  king  knew  that  Boaten  had  the  same  right  as 
himself  to  make  a  demand  as  the  national  law  prescribes;  yet 
Boaten  would  not  have  it  so,  but  claimed  the  offender  with  his 
whole  family.  The  king  insisted  that  the  offender  alone  must  suffer 
for  the  crime  comndtted,  and  not  the  innocent  parties.  Messengers 
were  dispatched  to  and  fro,  urging  the  delivery  of  Kotiaku  and 
his  people  to  be  punished.  But  the  king  was  positive  against  the 
demand  of  Boaten,  who  consequently  said,  "Let  the  king  exchange 
Uwaben  with  Kotiaku  and  his  parties."  Hence  he  deternuned  never 
to  go  up  to  Kumase. 

After  three  years  had  elapsed,  Kwantabisa,  general  of  the  van, 
was  commissioned  with  seven  of  his  chiefs  to  Dwaben  to  bring 
Boaten  to  Kumase,  in  order  to  settle  the  case  which  had  been 
pending  so  long.  Thus  he  addressed  the  court  of  Akuamua:  'Mn 
olden  times'"  said  he,  "it  was  said,  a  dispute  arose  between  Akua- 
nuia  and  his  uncle,  the  king,  which  lasted  for  four  years  unsettled. 
I  have  got  the  same  commission  to-day,  to  invite  you  to  your 
uncle,  to  see  his  face,  that  matters  may  peaceably  be  settled." 
To  which  Boaten  replied:  "The  idea  of  the  king  wishing  me  to 
come  over  to  him!  Does  he  believe  I  have  torgotten  the  case  with 
the  inhabitants  of  Nsuta?  Was  there  ever  a  sinnlar  case,  since 
the  world  was  created?  Is  not  Nsuta"s  case  vividly  in  my  mind? 
I  have  l)ecome  wiser  by  that,  and  therefore  I  will  not  go  to  Ku- 
mase! If  the  king  really  means  peace,  he  would  never  have  killed 
all  those  friends  of  mine  at  Kumase.  For  we  say,  if  a  neighbour 
has  gone  astray,  he  is  recalled  home  by  the  tune  of  the  horn  blown 
l»y  another  neighbour.  And  as  such  is  not  the  case,  neither  shall 
I  attend  the  call,  nor  be  forced  to  go  by  one  like  j^ourself.  I  am 
a  man,  but  not    a   coward    to   be    thus  treated."     Kwantabisa  was 


288  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

outrageously  disgraced  and  insulted.  Kofi  Boaten,  the  king's  brother, 
even  attempted  to  kill  him.  He  was  pelted  with  stones,  hooted  at, 
and  with  shame  sent  back  to  Kumase.  On  reaching  the  capital 
he  applied  a  leaf  of  a  tree  to  his  mouth  —  an  indication  of  the 
very  abusive  words  he  had  been  subjected  to.  Upon  such  occasions, 
the  king  must  swear  first  to  the  commissioner  before  he  gives 
utterance  to  those  hard  sayings,  else  he  might  be  punished  with 
death.  Being  prudent  enough  and  knowing  the  consequences  of 
uttering  all  those  hard  expressions,  Kwantabisa  only  touched  the 
better  parts  of  them.  The  king  was  enraged,  and  ordered  Kotiaku 
with  all  his  parties  to  be  sent  to  Dwaben.  ^'Should  I  allow  this 
little  fellow  to  insult  me  so  much?"  was  what  the  king  asked  his 
chiefs.  To  which  they  replied:  "We  might  do  something  but  for 
the  mat-shrubs'"  (a  large  species  of  Bromeliaceae  planted  between 
Kumase  and  Dwaben  by  order  of  Anokye,  by  whose  magic  virtue 
the  power  of  Asante  was  established;  they  are  as  a  memorial 
that  Kumase  sliould  never  take  up  arms  against  Dwaben).  The 
king  replied:  "Were  people  not  sleeping  on  mats  in  Kumase,  when 
those  Bromeliaceae  had  not  been  planted  by  Anokye?" 

Two  weeks  afterwards,  Boaten  sent  two  messengers  to  Kumase; 
but  the  king  did  not  allow  them  to  speak  and  barbarously  killed 
them.  This  act  was  very  shocking  to  the  Kumase  people.  Two 
other  messengers  were  again  sent  to  Kumase  eight  days  after  that, 
who  shared  the  same  fate.  Others  have  the  opinion  that  the 
chiefs  of  Kumase  were  rather  annoyed  at  Boaten's  demand. 

The  king  thereupon  distributed  arms  and  ammunition  to  his  cap- 
tains, commanded  them  to  start  on  one  Monday,  so  as  to  fight  the 
Dwabens  on  Krudopa-(_)ku,  the  most  sacred  day  of  the  Asantes, 
which  falls  on  Wednesdays.  Among  the  captains  who  swore  to 
the  king  was  one  Adu  Brade,  the  son  of  one  of  the  late  kings, 
who  said:  "If  I  mean  by  this  expedition  to  drink  from  a  spring, 
but  not  from  a  pool,  I  forfeit  the  oath  of  Koromante,"  On  reach- 
ing Abankuro,  having  Buraso  before  them,  the  troops  met  two 
messengers  from  Boaten.  They  said:  ''Akuamua  wishes  to  know 
why  a  force  is  marching  against  Dwaben  to-day?  For  such  a  thing 
has  never  been  heard  of  since  the  creation  (meaning  by  creation, 
the  founding  of  the  kingdom  of  Asante).  The  troops  must  march 
back  to  Kumase  with  us  to  settle  the  case  there.''  Not  agreeing 
to  their  request,  the  troops  seized  tliem,  put  them  in  irons  and 
sent  them  by  an  escort  to  Kumase.     The   king   ordered   them   also 


Chapter  XXIII.  289 

to  be  killed.  Then  the  troops  marched  on  a  tew  miles  and  en- 
camped on  that  Tuesday  so  as  to  get  to  Dwaberi  in  time  to  light 
on  the  tbllowing  day.  Early  on  the  morning  of  the  following  day, 
being  Krudopa-Oku,  Boaten  assembled  all  his  chiefs  and  told  them, 
"Had  Berebere  not  come,  no  trouble  would  have  come;  for  it 
was  Odabo  (Kotiaku)  who  had  offended  me,  that  all  these  troubles 
are  upon  me  now;  I  wish  therefore  that  the  offender  and  his  people 
must  beforehand  be  made  away  with!"  Thus  saying,  every  one 
of  them  was  beheaded  and  the  little  child  of  Yaw  Odabo,  who  was 
hanging  on  his  mother's  breast,  was  snatched  from  her  and  drowned 
in  the  river  Owaram. 

.  A  few  minutes  after  the  execution  of  Odabo  and  his  relations, 
tlie  king  ordered  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  men,  women  and 
children  to  quit  the  place;  only  the  armed  men  should  form  an 
ambuscade  about  the  town,  to  see  what  the  enemy  would  do  when 
there,  whether  they  came  to  settle  the  case  pending  or  to  fight. 
The  enemy,  however,  upon  entering  the  town  forthwith  fired  at 
a  bullock,—  thereupon  Okra  Dehee  and  Gyesaw,  who  had  painted 
their  bodies  with  white  clay,  were  commissioned  by  the  king  and 
chief  Yeboa  Kore  to  inquire  thus:  ''Were  you  not  aware  how  the 
world  was  created  (meaning  the  founding  of  the  Asaute  kingdom)? 
Where  have  you  kept  the  saying  of  Anokyes,  that  an  army  from 
Kumase  is  upon  Dwaben?"  "Know,  it  is  a  bullock  that  was  shot", 
was  the  reply.  Pao,  a  dog  was  also  fired  at.  The  men  in  white 
clay  ran  forward  and  inquired:  "Akuamua  wishes  to  know,  where 
you  have  kept  the  sayings  of  Anokye,  that  guns  are  being  tired 
upon  Dwaben  to-day?"  They  again  replied,  "It  is  a  dog  that  was 
shot."  A  few  yards  on,  the  troops  found  the  dead  bodies  of  Odabo 
and  his  relations  lying  about.  There  and  then  a  heavy  fire  was 
opened  on  the  Dwabens.  The  first  captain  who  fell  on  the  Kumase 
side  was  Adu  Brade.  His  head  was  cut  off,  and  brought  to  Boa- 
ten,  who  ordered  it  to  be  burnt.  The  Asantes  were  forced  to  re- 
treat as  far  as  Ekyereso. 

During  the  heat  of  action,  one  of  the  captains  of  Boaten  blew 
himself  up  with  powder.  His  dead  body  was  thonght  to  be  that 
of  Boaten,  therefore  it  was  conveyed  to  Kumase.  An  old  woman 
who  was  captured  was  called  by  the  king,  who  said  to  her:  "You 
old  grey-haired  woman,  who  should  have  given  better  counsel  to 
your  king,  never  did  so!  He  that  pretended  to  do  wonders  lies 
here  now!"     "Nana",  said  she,  "it   is  not    Akwasi  vi'ho  lies  here 

19 


290  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

now!'*  The  king  asked:  "Who  is  he  then?"  She  replied,  "I  do 
not  know  who  i£  is;  but  it  is  not  Akwasi."  "Where  is  Akwasi 
then?"  the  king  asked.  The  woman  replied,  "Akwasi  has  walked 
away."  "Where  to?"  was  the  king's  last  question.  The  woman 
answered,  "I  do  not  know;  it  may  be  to  another  country."  Okye, 
a  captain  of  1000  men,  by  the  king's  order  carried  the  dead  body 
back  to  the  troops  at  Dwaben,  with  these  words,  "You  fellows, 
come!  get  away  with  your  Boaten"  and  with  other  abusive  words 
too,  he  left  the  body  to  them  and  returned  to  Kumase. 

Boaten  had  proposed  to  blow  the  royal  family  and  himself  up 
with  powder  when  his  ammunition  had  run  short;  but  Yeboa  Kore 
and  the  chiefs  had  opposed  it.  They  said  to  him,  as  long  as  God 
had  spared  them,  they  should  not  do  any  injury  to  their  persons, 
but  go  to  some  other  country  and  prepare  against  the  Asantes. 
He  replied,  "That  would  have  been  possible,  if  I  had  not  destroyed 
all  my  personal  effects.  Seeing  I  have  broken  my  large  drums,  burnt 
all  my  clothes,  and  have  even  scattered  about  all  my  gold-dust!" 
The  chiefs  again  replied,  "So  long  as  the  Asantes  could  not  anni- 
hilate us,  we  must  not  destroy  ourselves.  We  had  better  march 
on  to  Akem  and  surrender  ourselves  up  to  queen  Dokuwa,  and 
fight  the  Asantes  when  we  have  gained  footing  there."  The  king 
agreed  to  what  chief  Yeboa  Kore  and  others  proposed,  and  they 
started.  Chief  Yeboa  Kore  stayed  behind  as  if  preparing  to  start, 
but  made  his  way  to  the  river  Pimkyim  and  there  committed  sui- 
cide with  about  60  persons  of  his  blood.  It  was  the  body  of  chief 
Yeboa  Kore  that  was  conveyed  to  Kumase.  This  suicide  was  said 
to  have  been  brought  on  by  Boaten's  powder  having  run  short. 
He  was  unable  to  supply  the  chief  with  any  when  asked  for. 

Boaten  had  given  an  imperative  command  to  captain  Kwabena 
Nketia,  the  husband  of  his  sister  Boatema,  who  had  the  charge  of 
the  royal  familj',  as  well  as  the  women  and  children  of  Dwaben, 
to  shoot  down  his  sisters  and  all  of  the  royal  blood,  the  moment 
he  heard  that  he  had  blown  himself  up  with  powder.  Pursuant 
to  that  order,  Nketia,  on  hearing  the  blasting  of  gun-powder  dur- 
ing the  heat  of  action,  thought  it  was  the  king  who  did  it,  and 
immediately  shot  down  Boatema  his  own  wife,  and  then  the  whole 
body  of  women  and  children  dispersed,  so  that  most  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  enemy.  At  that  very  moment,  a  cry  was  raised, 
"The  Asantes  are  clearing  off,  the  enemy  is  retreating!"  Being 
frightened  by  that,  Nketia  was  benumbed  and  could  no  more  shoot 


Chapter  XXIII.  291 

any  one  more,  however  he  shot  himself.  Their  orphans  Sapomma 
and  Sapong-  11.  were  brought  to  Akem  by  Boaten,  and  there  the 
latter  died. 

The  enemy  left  the  battle-field  for  a  time,  and  the  king  was 
anxiously  awaiting  the  arrival  of  chief  Yeboa  with  his  people. 
But  when  the  sad  news  reached  him,  he  also  determined  to  com- 
mit suicide.  His  captain  Apententia  prudently  advised  him  to  de- 
sist from  doing  so  till  they  had  reached  Praso,  where  no  enemy 
could  discover  their  remains  to  dishonour  them.  By  this  the  king- 
was  cooled  and  they  resumed  their  march  towards  Akem.  The 
Agogos  and  Amantras  under  chief  Amoako  attacked  the  king  at 
Peterensa,  but  he  scattered  them  to  the  winds.  Continuing  his 
march,  he  slept  half  way  and  on  the  following  day  reached  Dua- 
frasuom.  His  messengers  were  dispatched  to  Dokuwa  to  inform 
her  of  what  had  befallen  him,  what  his  uncle  Osei  Yaw  had  done 
to  him,  that  he  had  now  no  bed  to  sleep  on,  no  pewter-basins  to 
use,  in  short  no  royal  effects  at  all  with  him,  and  was  wishing 
therefore  to  come  over  to  her. 

Meanwhile  the  troops  had  been  ordered  to  march  back  to  Kum- 
ase.  Two  of  the  royal  blood  of  Boaten,  Sapong  and  Sapomma, 
a  son  and  a  daughter  of  his  sister  Afrakuma  I.;  with  the  state 
properties,  the  royal  stool,  and  his  own  sons:  Agyei  Twum  (who 
afterwards  became  king  of  Dwaben,  known  as  Asafo  Agyei),  Yaw 
Kyere,  Okyere  Panyin,  Agyei  Sunkwa,  and  Apea  Dankwa  (who 
also  was  made  chief  of  Dwaben),  with  many  others,  were  taken 
prisoners  in  the  conflict  and  were  brought  to  Kumase.  The  young 
princes  were  given  in  charge  of  Kwadwo  Duawa,  chief  of  the  eu- 
nuchs. The  elder  was  about  six  years  old,  the  younger  only  four. 
At  the  reception  of  the  troops  those  poor  captives  were  carried  on 
shoulders  while  saluting  the  king  and  his  assembly.  The  younger 
boy,  on  seeing  the  assembly,  said  to  the  elder  one:  '^Behold  the 
large  state  umbrella  of  our  grand-father,  his  castle,  oh  dear,  here 
he  is!"  When  brought  before  the  king,  the  little  one  said  to  his 
bearer,  ''Let  me  down  to  go  to  my  grandpapa!"  Both  were  put 
down,  and  the  king  took  them  on  his  laps.  "'Nana",  said  the  little 
boy,  "I  feel  hungry  indeed,  for  when  the  grand  yam-feast  came 
on  yesterday  (the  poor  innocenr  boy  thought  it  was  a  yam-custom), 
guns  were  fired,  we  ate  nothing  at  all.''  "All  right,  you  shall  eat 
soon",  answered  the  king.  After  the  reception  of  the  troops  they 
were  brought  home,  and  richly  served,  but  the   elder  couldn't  eat 

19* 


292  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

much.  They  were  kindly  treated  by  the  kin^-  for  some  time;  but 
at  length  the  king  assembled  his  chiefs  and  said  to  them,  "My 
grandchildren  must  be  dispatched  on  account  of  Adu  Brade;  they 
must  be  dispatched,"  The  chiefs  then  remarked,  "As  they  are 
little  children,  they  should  he  spared  for  a  memorial  to  the  world. 
According  to  the  sayings  of  Anokye  these  youngsters  should  be 
spared."  The  king  insisted  upon  their  being  killed  on  account  of 
Adu  Brade,  who  fell  in  the  engagement.  The  chiefs  opposed  their 
being  killed,  "We  were  strongly  forbidden  by  Anokye  never  to 
imbrue  our  hands  in  the  blood  of  Dwabens.'  The  king  said:  "I 
know  how  to  manage  that  their  blood  be  not  shed."  The  poor 
little  things  were  smothered  in  a  large  wooden  trough  and  buried! 

Boaten's  messengers  were  kindly  received  in  Akem  by  queen 
Dokuwa.  On  their  return,  Dokuwa  sent  everything  necessary  for 
Boaten  to  Duafrasuom.  The  Dwaben  royal  famih'  consisted  of 
Boaten,  his  mother  Osewa,  sister  Afrakuma  1.  w^ith  a  child,  and 
brother  Koti  Boaten.  These  with  their  people  and  the  whole  of 
Dwaben  were  cordially  received  by  Dokuwa,  her  sons  king  Ata 
and  Obiwom,  and  all  their  people.  After  their  reception,  presents 
were  lavished  on  them,  and  a  site  was  granted  them  to  build 
their  towns  and  villages  on. 

A  few  days  after  his  arrival,  Boaten  dispatched  three  ambassa- 
dors, Kwabena  Puntua,  Gyimadu  and  Mogyabeng,  with  his  compli- 
ments to  the  Danish  governor  Brock,  the  British  governor  Maclean, 
and  the  kings,  chiefs  and  principal  men  of  Akra,  Fante,  Dankera. 
Akwamu  and  Akuapem.  The  ambassadors  had  to  swear  the  oath 
of  allegiance  on    the  fetish  given  them  by  those  kings  and  chiefs. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Of  Boaten's  residence  at  Akem. —  His  being  recalled  to  Asante. — ^  The 
atrocious  request  of  having  his  cousins  and  some  captains  put  to 
death,   before  he  consented  to  return. 

The  ambassadors  returned  to  xVkem  after  having  executed  the 
commission  given  them.  From  all  the  principal  merchants,  Messrs. 
Ridley,  Richter,  Hansen,  Bannerman,  Fry,  etc.,  as  well  as  kings, 
chiefs,  and  principal  men,  large  presents  were  sent  with  their  com- 
pliments and  sympathy  to  Boaten.     The  message  sent  by  Kwadwo 


Chapter  XXIV.  293 

Tibo  was,  "At  Asante  I  was  your  subject,  but  having  come  to  this 
country,  you  have  become  my  brother.  I  deeply  sympathize  with 
jou,  bid  you  welcome,  wish  you  success  in  your  battles.  Having 
come  1  receive  you  with  embraces,  to  live  in  peace  with  each 
other,  that  the  wicked  man  alone  may  stay  in  his  country,  that 
in  course  of  time  should  he,  Osei,  think  of  any  invasion,  we  stand 
together  against  him."  After  these  negotiations,  the  merchants 
opened  comaierce  with  the  Dwabens  at  Akem. 

During  the  stay  of  the  Dwabens  at  Akem  there  was  no  peace 
between  them  and  the  Asantes.  Whenever  they  met  they  fought, 
either  with  sticks,  knives  or  guns.  The  king  of  Dwaben  organized 
an  expedition  under  Opoku  Sakoree  against  the  Boem  people  and 
obtained  a  great  number  of  prisoners,  besides  quantities  of  ivory 
and  other  spoil.  He  sent  some  of  the  prisoners  as  presents  to  the 
principal  men  on  the  coast,  and  sold  a  good  many  of  them  for  his 
personal  expenses.  Those  prisoners  of  war  were  captured  chiefly 
from  Boem,  because  the  expedition  to  Afidwase  and  Asgkore  proved 
a  failure  by  the  presence  of  an  Asante  army  met  there.  For  after 
the  expulsion  of  Boaten  from  Dwaben,  Osei  Yaw  ordered  the  Ka- 
rakye  and  Namonsi  people,  who  were  tributary  to  Boaten,  to  throw 
off  allegiance  to  their  former  master  and  to  come  under  him.  As 
they  were  not  willing  to  do  so,  general  Nubeng  was  ordered  to 
march  against  them.  At  Bankoro  Wiawoso  the  general  received 
intelligence,  that  the  Dwaben  expedition  from  Akem  against  Afi- 
dwase and  Asokgre  was  marching  there.  Unexpectedly  Opoku  Sa- 
koree met  the  Asante  army.  A  sharp  contest  ensued,  in  which 
the  Dwabens  and  Akems  were  defeated. 

The  general  now  marched  to  Karakye.  Many  of  the  people  were 
taken  prisoners;  the  rest  fled  across  the  river  Oti.  The  grove  and 
cave  of  Odente  were  plundered  and  desecrated.  Elated  by  this 
brilliant  success,  the  general  was  passing  the  day  in  merriment  and 
dance,  when  suddenly  an  army  of  Bagyam  people  appeared  and 
attacked  the  unsuspecting  party.  The  general  and  several  influen- 
tial men  and  people  were  slain  on  the  spot.  This  forced  the  Asante 
army  which  had  gone  to  plunder  to  return  in  haste  and  drive 
the  Bagyams  back.  3000  captives  were  taken  from  Karakye  and 
Bagyam. 

The  defeat  of  the  expedition  and  the  destruction  of  the  Karakye 
and  Bagyam  people  was  reported  to  Boaten,  and  he  forthwith  sent 
a  large  supply  of  ammunition  by  a  captain  of  Atipini  to  Karakye 


294  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

to  support  them  against  the  Asantes.  But  being  weakened  by  the 
late  battles,  the  Karakj^es  did  not  venture  to  take  the  field  against 
their  enemy. 

Skirmishes  continued  between  the  Dwabens  and  Asantes  for  a 
long  time,  which  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  country  as  well  as 
trade.  At  last  the  following  ambassadors  were  dispatched  from 
Kumase:  Akoa  Yaw,  Barefi,  Osei  Bedikwa,  Ata  Kunkn  (bearer  of 
the  gold  stool),  Etuahene  (bearer  of  the  gold  calabash),  Amankwa 
Kuma,  Kankam  Akyekyere,  Boakye  Mpamkye,  chief  Kwakwa  and 
Okra  Boadu.  Boaten  appointed  envoys  with  linguist  Oduro  Ako- 
tedwan  at  their  head  and  presented  the  state  of  things  to  the  chiefs 
ofAkra,  who  also  apprized  the  Danish  governor  Morck,  the  British 
governor  Maclean  and  commandant  Fry.  A  grand  meeting  was 
held  at  '^Tunyean'"  (now  '^  Victoriaborg")  on  the  27*'^  May  1835, 
and  peace  was  brought  about  between  Asante  and  Dwaben.  A 
total  eclipse  of  the  sun  was  visible  that  day.  The  Asante  ambas- 
sadors prudently  gave  every  chance  to  Oduro  Akotedwan  to  win 
the  case  in  order  that  Boaten  might  be  easily  persuaded  to  return. 
Oduro  accordingly  won  the  case,  that  the  verdict  was  given  in 
Boaten's  favour,  for  which  a  linguist  cane  was  presented  to  him 
by  the  officials.  The  eclipse  made  it  necessary  to  put  off  the  court 
till  the  following  day. 

There  was  no  true  and  permanent  peace  between  Ata,  Obiwom, 
and  Boaten  when  the  latter  was  at  Akem.  He  appeared  to  be 
like  a  tiger  in  a  cage,  though  his  influence  and  munificence  were 
so  great  that  several  persons  attached  themselves  to  him.  Besides 
being  an  Asante  prince,  he  was  magnificent  in  state  embellishment, 
in  short,  he  was  superior  in  every  respect  to  Ata  and  Obiwom. 
From  him  they  acquired  the  art  of  ruling  in  the  Tshi  style.  Yet 
for  all  that,  they  not  only  envied  him,  but  intrigued  with  ladies 
of  his  harem.  Obiwom  had  an  illegal  intercourse  with  one  of  the 
wives  of  Kofi  Boaten,  whereof  an  incident  happened  one  day,  which 
nearly  brought  on  war  between  them,  had  not  Ata  very  prudently 
put  a  stop  to  it.  Kofi  Boaten,  the  brother  of  the  king,  was  informed 
of  that  intrigue  with  one  of  his  wives.  The  woman  not  confessing 
the  truth,  the  offended  husband  watched  and  detected  them,  and 
she  was  ordered  to  be  apprehended  and  beheaded.  Effecting  her 
escape  she  was  pursued  by  her  husband.  ''Ata,  gye  me  e!  Ata, 
gye  me  e!  Ata,  gye  me  e!"  i.e.  have  me  rescued,  Ata!  have  me 
rescued,  Ata!     The  poor  woman  fell  on  a  fetish  at  the  entrance  of 


Chapter  XXIV.  295 

the  house,  the  enraged  husband  fell  upon  and  beheaded  her.  Ata 
not  knowing-  the  cause  of  it,  was  greatly  offended  at  such  an  in- 
sult; consequently  a  stone  and  stick  fight  broke  out  between  the 
Akems  and  Dwabens.  Boaten,  being  away  from  town  at  the  river 
Bereni  for  amusement,  was  informed  of  it.  The  Dwabens  were 
forced  to  retreat,  but  on  seeing  their  king,  who  had  been  called 
to  stop  the  outrage,  they  drove  the  Akems  from  Kyebi,  when  he 
said, '' Whereto?"'  King  Ado  Dankwa  of  Akropong  was  informed 
of  that  riot  in  Kyebi.  He  dispatched  his  principal  linguists,  Aye 
Kuma  and  Apenteng,  to  Akem.  These  assisted  Kofi  Abrantee,  chief 
of  Kukurantumi.  The  case  was  investigated,  and  Obiwom  was 
found  guilty.  He  was  fined  70  peredwans,  equal  to  ^81.  Osewa, 
mother  of  Boaten,  nearly  ordered  the  Dwabens  to  resort  to  arms, 
when  that  riot  took  place.  On  account  of  that  with  other  things, 
Boaten  never  talked  to  her  over  a  whole  year.  His  chiefs  managed 
with  difficulty  to  reconcile  them. 

Another  deplorable  incident  happened  thus.  One  Ofosu  Atimu, 
a  servant  of  king  Ata,  offended  his  master  by  some  misconduct 
towards  the  queen  mother.  He  was  ordered  to  be  beheaded,  but 
effected  his  escape  to  the  coast,  where  he  sought  protection  from  the 
government.  One  day  Ofosu  happened  to  be  found  in  the  house 
of  Boaten's  basket-cairiers.  The  king,  informed  of  this  by  his 
people,  immediately  sent  information  to  Ata;  but  instead  of  send- 
ing his  own  people  for  Ofosu's  apprehension,  Ata  sent  a  flask  of 
rum  to  the  king's  basket-carriers  to  catch  him,  which,  of  course, 
Boaten  opposed,  saying:  "A  refugee  never  catches  another  refugee"; 
should  his  people  do  that,  it  will  reach  the  coast  that  he  had  brought 
Asante  cruel  acts  to  Akem,  and  w^as  teaching  people  the  same. 
If  Ata  would  not  send  for  Ofosu's  apprehension,  neither  should  his 
people  do  it.  At  last  Ofosu  made  his  way  to  the  coast.  A  court 
was  held  about  that  case.  The  Akems  tried  to  find  Boaten  guilty ; 
but  lie  did  not  submit  to  that  decision.  Through  such  cases  the 
Dwabens  began  to  think  of  their  country,  and  were  longing  to 
return.  On  account  of  such  disturbances  of  the  public  peace,  a 
detachment  of  one  dozen  soldiers  of  the  Danish  and  English  gov- 
ernment were  stationed  at  Kyebi  for  every  six  months,  when  a 
fresh  detachment  was  sent  to  relieve  it.  Thus  it  continued  the 
whole  time  the  Dwabens  were  at  Akem. 

Boaten  had  several  times  laid  his  request  before  the  Danish  and 
British  tjovernors  as  well  as  the  king  and  chiefs  of  Akra  to  allow 


296  History   ot  the  Gold   Coast  and  Asante. 

him  to  visit  the  coast,  but  had  been  positively  refused.  He  tried 
at  least  to  be  allowed  to  see  Akra;  but  even  that  was  denied  him. 
The  reason  why  he  was  not  allowed,  we  could  not  make  out. 
Some  say,  the  Akras  thought:  "Blood  is  never  wanting-  in  the 
head  of  a  horsefly."  Being  an  Asante  king,  formerly  an  enemy, 
he  might  design  some  sorts  of  mischief  against  them,  if  lie  were 
permitted  to  visit  the  coast  or  stay  permanently  in  the  Protectorate. 
Others  were  of  opinion  that  it  was  through  Kwaku  Dua's  repre- 
sentations to  the  principal  merchants  on  the  coast  that  he  was  not 
allowed  to  stay  in  the  Protectorate,  but  was  forced  to  return. 
Through  all  these  hindrances  it  came  to  his  mind  to  return  if 
possible.  Besides  this,  his  mother  and  sister  Afrakuma  I,  insti- 
gated him  to  go  back. 

In  the  year  1839  Rev.  A.  Riis  of  the  Basel  mission  on  the  Gold 
Coast  arrived  in  Akem  and  did  his  best  to  begin  a  mission  among 
the  Dwabens  and  Akenis;  but  neither  Boaten  nor  Ata  supported 
him.  However  Boaten  sent  a  number  of  Dwaben  youths  to  the 
coast  to  be  trained  as  musical  band  performers;  but  for  a  school 
and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  he  did  not  show  any  interest. 

Boaten,  not  allowed  to  visit  the  coast,  received  message  after 
message  from  the  Danish  and  British  governors,  urging  him  to  go 
back.  Prince  Kwaku  Dua  had  been  made  king  of  Asante,  after 
the  demise  of  Osei  Yaw,  and  was  dispatching  ambassadors  after 
ambassadors  to  the  governors  of  Christiansborg  and  Cape  Coast, 
king  Taki  I.,  Ata,  Kwadwo  Tibo,  Tibo  Kuma,  and  all  the  chiefs 
in  the  Protectorate,  to  induce  Boaten  to  return  to  Dwaben.  The 
first  ambassadors  were  Osei  Dankyere,  Yaw  Kgko  and  Barefi. 
They  brought  60  peredwans  equal  to  ^'^  487  (some  say  300  pere- 
dwans  were  sent  first),  to  Boaten  with  this  message:  "Boaten  is 
the  principal  man  who  has  to  place  Kwaku  Dua  on  the  stool. 
Unless  Boaten  returns,  no  one  can  perform  the  ceremony  connected 
with  the  coronation.''  The  amount  sent  is  said  to  have  been  di- 
vided between  Boaten,  Sapong,  head  chief  of  the  Oyoko  family, 
Agyei,  chief  of  Asafo,  and  Agyei  Bohen,  captain  over  the  body- 
guard. 

One  of  the  ambassadors,  Barefi,  had  a  confidential  commission 
to  Boaten  alone.  On  his  arrival  Boaten  tried  to  behead  him.  Ba- 
refi, knowing  what  he  had  to  expect  at  Boaten's  hand,  said,  the 
king  has  determined  to  send  out  1000  messengers  to  recall  you 
home;  if  you  kill  me,  another  will  come  until  you  desist.     In  reply 


Chapter  XXIV.  297 

to  the  request  of  Kwaku  Dua  by  Barefi,  Boateii  requested  the  kiujj^ 
lo  r'^turn  all  the  property  and  men  captured  from  Dankera,  Asen, 
Akem,  Akuapem,  etc.  to  the  respective  owners  before  he  would 
agree  to  go  back.  The  king,  in  answer  to  this  request,  sent  back 
Barefi  to  say,  that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  return  those  things 
and  people.  For  neither  did  he  know  where  those  objects  were, 
nor  was  he  the  party  who  took  possession  of  them.  Their  fore- 
fathers had  captured  those  things,  and  as  they  were  dead,  he  could 
not  make  out  where  they  were  to  be  found.  He  should  therefore 
let  by-gones  be  by-gones,  but  try  to  come  back.  Boaten  replied  : 
"I  am  plunged  in  debts;  how  can  I  leave  my  creditors  behind 
me  and  go  to  DvVaben  ?  If  the  king  desires  me  to  return,  I  ought 
to  receive  sufficient  money  to  defray  my  expenses  before  I  go 
back.''  Barefi  returned  the  third  time  with  800  peredwans  to  say, 
"Where  one  like  Akuamoa  is,  no  pecuniary  embarrassment  could 
befall  him;  he  may,  however,  accept  800  peredwans,  and  on  reach- 
ing Kumase  anything  more  he  desires  will  be  given  him."  Mr.  John 
Magnusen,  a  Danish  native  soldier,  was  ordered  by  governor  Giede 
to  go  to  Akem  and  settle  any  account  between  Boaten  and  Dokuwa. 
In  his  presence  the  account  was  made,  and  Boaten  was  found  in- 
debted to  the  amount  of  16  peredwans,  which  he  forthwith  paid 
to  her.  The  principal  ambassadors  sent  by  the  king  of  Asante 
were  Ahenkuro  Sei,  Owusu  Agyemang  and  linguist  Boadu.  They 
announced  their  arrival  at  Akem  to  the  Danish  and  English  gov- 
ernments, and  had  to  stay  more  than  one  year  to  collect  the 
Dwabens  who  were  trading  all  about  the  Protectorate,  before  Boa- 
ten was  able  to  start. 

Boaten's  last  request  by  Bareli  was,  that  his  cousins  Aberedwase 
Opoku  and  Nerebehi  Poku  and  their  families  should  be  killed  be- 
fore he  would  agree  to  go  back.  But  their  troops  should  be  spared 
for  himself. 

Kwaku  Dua  replied  to  this  wicked  request,  that  he  would  not 
raise  any  objection  to  it,  provided  he  would  send  his  own  people 
to  do  it,  he  would  not  do  it  himself.  Having  obtained  the  consent 
of  the  king,  Boaten,  under  false  pretences,  represented  the  case  to 
the  Danish  and  English  governors  and  king  Taki,  that  he  was  ready 
to  go  back,  but  that  some  ambassadors  should  be  sent  by  the  gov- 
ernors and  Taki  to  accompany  his  men  to  Kumase  to  settle  a  dis- 
pute pending  between  himself  and  some  parties  there  before  he 
would  0:0  back. 


298  History  of  the  Gold  Coast  and  Asante. 

Not  knowing  the  real  object  of  Boaten,  two  soldiers,  Christian 
Yelstrup  and  Henrick  Eng-mann,  with  one  Nkudshei,  were  appointed 
by  the  Danish  governor.  A  soldier  by  name  iStifro  was  also  ap- 
pointed by  the  British  governor,  Taki  appointed  his  linguist  Dshang 
of  Akra,  to  go  with  Boaten's  messengers  to  Kumase. 

Aberedwase  Opokii  and  Nerebeiii  Poku  were  cousins  to  Boaten. 
The  mother  of  the  former,  Agyei  Badu,  was  the  youngest  sister 
of  Osewa,  Boaten's  mother,  but  elder  cousin  to  Boaten;  aud  the 
grandfather  of  Nerebehi  Poku  was  one  of  the  kings  of  Dvvaben,  in 
whose  reign  a  civil  war  broke  out  between  himself  and  subjects^ 
consequently  he  abdicated  the  stool  and  resided  in  a  village  till  he 
died.  He  had  therefore  a  claim  on  the  stool  of  Dwaben  as  well 
as  Aberedwase  Poku,  who  by  the  right  of  succession  would  have 
the  first  claim  to  the  stool,  as  being  elder  cousin  to  Boaten;  but 
it  was  denied  to  him  on  account  of  his  being  the  son  of  a  younger 
sister  to  Qsewa;  j^et  he  was  made  a  captain  of  high  rank  by 
Boaten. 

A  misunderstanding  between  the  king  and  his  cousins  was  created 
thus.  After  Kwantabisa  had  failed  in  his  commission  to  bring 
Boaten  to  Kumase,  and  consequently  the  first  messengers  of  Boa- 
ten had  been  beheaded  at  Kumase,  lie  ordered  his  people  to  pre- 
pare bullets;  and  Aberedwase  Poku,  not  knowing  anything  about 
it,  one  evening  came  to  see  his  cousin,  but  was  denied  admittance^ 
as  both  Aberedwase  and  Nerebehi  envied  his  power  and  sided 
with  the  king  of  Asante  in  hopes  of  obtaining  the  stool.  Abere- 
dwase Poku  became  very  uneasy  at  not  being  admitted  into  the 
king's  house;  hence  he  quitted  Dwaben  that  same  night,  in  spite 
of  the  expostulations  oi"  Nerebehi,  and  sought  refuge  at  Kumase. 
Next  morning  three  messengers  arrived  at  Nerebehi's,  enquiring 
for  him.  They  were  asked  by  Nerebehi,  why  such  a  treatment 
as  that  was  given  to  one  like  Aberedwase  Poku  even  at  the  king's 
house?  And  on  that  account  he  was  frightened  and  quitted  Dwa- 
ben! The  messengers  were  going  to  pursue  him,  but  Nerebehi 
advised  them  to  go  back,  as  by  that  time  Aberedwase  Poku  had 
reached  Kumase,  where,  of  course,  they  could  not  dare  to  appre- 
hend him  nor  do  any  injury  to  his  person.  He  said:  "For  my 
part  I  would  advise  3'ou  to  go  back  to  Dwaben,  give  my  compli- 
ments to  the  king  and  ask  why  Aberedwase  Opoku  was  denied 
admittance  into  his  house?  That  on  that  account  he  was  frightened 
and  escaped  to  seek  protection    at   the  stool  of  Twum  and  Antwi. 


Chapter  XXIV.  299 

I  advise  that  the  case  pending  between  my  cousin  and  the  king- 
should  be  amicably  settled,  otherwise,  I  will  be  neutral,  neither 
for  heaven  nor  for  earth."  The  messengers  reported  to  Boaten 
wliat  Nerebehi  had  said;  and  when  the  civil  war  broke  out  between 
Dwaben  and  Kuniase,  neither  of  the  cousins  took  part  in  it,  hence 
Boaten  desired  to  kill  them  and  their  families  before  he  would 
return. 

Others  are  of  opinion  that  those  cousins  of  Boaten  left  Dwaben 
the  same  night  when  Yaw  Odabo  was  detected.  Thej  went  to 
Kumase  with  the  view  of  siding  with  the  king  so  as  to  claim  the 
stool  for  them,  as  the  king  did  in  the  Nsata's  case.  As  cousins  of 
Boaten  it  was  their  bounden  dut.y  to  support  him  in  a  case  such 
as  that,  but  never  to  leave  him  alone. 

The  three  soldiers  and  king  Taki's  linguist  acting  as  ambassadors 
arrived  at  Akem.  Boaten  appointed  Kwabena  Puutua,  Gjimadu, 
linguist  Damansafo,  Asare  Panyin,  Mogyaben,  and  a  party  of  50 
armed  men  to  execute  that  atrocious  commission  at  Kumase.  Pun- 
tua  and  his  company  announced  their  approach,  and  a  grand  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Kumase  for  their  reception.  Which  being  done, 
they  got  their  quarters  at  Ntuom.  The  king  sent  presents  of  every 
known  eatable  thing  and  gold-dust  to  them  on  the  following  day, 
after  which  the  whole  Asante  nation  was  ordered  by  the  king  to 
send  in  their  presents.  They  got  a  large  supply  of  provisions  and 
gold. 

As  it  was  the  great  yam  feast,  Aberedwase  Poku  with  his  whole 
family  as  well  as  Nerebehi  Poku  were  in  Kumase.  Prince  Owusu 
Dome  was  ordered  by  the  king  to  invite  the  ambassadors  and 
Aberedwase  Poku  to  his  house  to  enjoy  palm-wine  and  other  drink. 
At  the  party  they  were  told  that  Akuamua  was  expected  soon, 
therefore  they  must  be  placed  in  irons  for  a  time,  till  he  came, 
when  any  case  pending  between  both  parties  should  be  settled. 
To  which  Aberedwase  Poku  replied,  '^Akuamua  may  come  at  any 
time,  I  have  nothing  serious  with  him !"  Nerebehi  Poku  responded^ 
"Why  should  you  continue  talking  for  being  required  to  be  put  in 
irons?  Stretch  out  your  hands  to  be  manacled!"  He  did  so,  yet 
none  of  the  Dwabens  could  take  hold  of  the  hand,  but  all  kept  up 
weeping!  There  were  more  than  400  men  of  the  king's  basket- 
carriers  and  a  set  of  the  king's  bearers  who  allow  their  hair  to 
grow  long  and  hang  over  their  faces,  who  had  surrounded  the 
house  to  prevent  any  one   from  escaping.     Aberedwase  Poku  was 


300  History  of  the  Gold   Coast  and   Asante. 

tirst  handcuffed,  then  Nerebehi  Pokusaid:  ''We  are  never  warned 
by  the  earth,  else  what  happened  once  in  one  country  might  come 
to  pass  in  another,  for  I  am  the  grandson  of  Twum  and  Antwj 
(ancestors  of  DvVaben  and  Kumase  kings).  I,  who  neither  gold 
nor  silver  handcuff  could  ever  be  used  for  my  arrest,  must  now 
submit  to  an  iron  hand-cuff  even  in  Kumase?"'  After  being  hand- 
cuffed, they  were  removed  to  a  house  engaged  for  that  purpose. 
Their  wives  and  children  were  immediately  seized  and  handcuffed. 
Among  them  was  Boatema,  a  sister,  and  Kwasi  Gyenti,  a  nephew. 
They  were  told,  as  royal  personages,  they  should  not  be  kept  in ' 
that  state  in  which  they  were,  in  Kumase.  To  avoid  their  being 
seen  by  people,  it  would  be  advisable  and  most  convenient  to  re- 
move them  to  a  village,  until  Akuamua's  arrival.  All  to  decoy 
them  to  the  spot  of  execution.  A  few  yards  beyond  Nsuben,  Pun- 
tua  and  his  party  (the  soldiers  excepted)  overtook  them.  The  sign 
of  blockading  the  road  by  tying  up  the  grass  on  the  way-sides  — 
three  knots  towards  the  city  and  three  towards  the  villages  —  was 
now  performed,  and  Puntua  ordered  his  men  to  murder  the  whole 
party.  The  poor  vv^omen  uttered  heart-rending  cries,  lamenting  their 
sad  fate,  how  they  were  honourably  born  and  must  now  perish  so 
miserably!  The  number  of  inoflfending  men,  women  and  children, 
butchered  on  that  day,  was  above  seventy  persons.  Some  speak 
of  only  ten.  General  terror  prevailed.  One  of  the  intended  victims 
effected  his  escape  and  reported  what  had  befallen  them  to  the 
people  of  Nerebehi.  The  king,  not  aware  that  the  sad  news  had 
reached  those  people  at  their  village,  sent  two  messengers  to  bring 
them  over  to  Kumase.  The  messengers,  being  cunning,  perceived 
a  change  in  the  movements  of  the  people  and  returned  quietly, 
without  them,  to  the  capital.  They  were  ridiculed  as  cowards  for 
not  bringing  them  over,  and  two  other  messengers  were  sent.  The 
villagers  betrayed  no  ill-feeling,  but  supplied  the  messengers  with 
food  and  drink,  and  then  killed  them.  They  bought  plenty  of 
drink,  made  a  large  dinner,  ate  and  got  drunk,  and  began  to  dance 
lamenting  the  fate  awaiting  them !  They  dug  a  large  pit  in  which 
they  packed  all  their  children,  covered  them  with  straw  from  their 
houses,  and  set  it  on  fire.  A  mother  danced  about  for  some  time, 
and  then  said,  "Dispatch  me  quickly,  for  by  this  time  my  children 
are  waiting  and  weeping  for  me."  Then  she  was  shot  down.  A 
father,  after  dancing  for  a  good  while,  exclaimed,  "My  time  is  up,  I 
must  be  sfone!'"   and  then   shot   himself.     Thus  they  continued  the 


Chapter  XXIV.  301 

whole  day  and  night,  till  most  of  them  were  killed.  The  king, 
hearing-  of  this,  dispatched  armed  men  to  interfere,  but  it  was  too 
late.  They  found  a  large  heap  of  dead  bodies,  about  six  feet  high, 
their  clothes  burnt,  baskets  and  guns  smashed.  Such  and  other 
articles  were  brought  to  Kumase. 

This  hideous  wholesale  destruction